WEBVTT - An Introduction to Homer's Iliad 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:12.840 Welcome to the Hillsdale College Online Courses podcast. I am 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:13.760 Jeremiah Regan. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.159 And I'm Juan Davalos. We are back with something a 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.040 little different today. We're going to look at a couple 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.840 of lectures from our course, Great Books 101 Ancient to Medieval. 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:24.840 This is one of the first courses that we produced, 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:28.040 and it's related to the core course that our undergraduate 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.360 students take, where they learn the key literature of the 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.120 Western tradition. We're doing a special episode on the Iliad, 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.080 and next week we'll do another on Homer's Odyssey, because 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.840 we have full courses coming out on both of those works. 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.800 The Iliad will be taught by Stephen Smith, who also 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.720 delivers the Iliad lecture in Great Books 101 and the 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.639 Odyssey course features Ben Whalen, the son of David Whalen, 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.440 the professor featured in the Great Books lecture on the Odyssey. 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.200 So we're giving you a preview, two great lectures from 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.430 the archives to prepare you for full courses that are 0:01:01.430 --> 0:01:03.470 coming out in the summer of 26. 0:01:03.670 --> 0:01:06.350 And of course, you may have seen that there's a 0:01:06.350 --> 0:01:09.390 big movie, a big blockbuster movie coming out in Hollywood, 0:01:09.750 --> 0:01:12.990 which is on Homer's Odyssey. The movie is called Odyssey, 0:01:12.990 --> 0:01:15.910 produced by Christopher Nolan, and it's going to be a 0:01:15.910 --> 0:01:18.630 big blockbuster. So if you go watch that movie and 0:01:18.630 --> 0:01:22.750 you want to actually learn more about Homer's Odyssey and 0:01:22.750 --> 0:01:27.110 get the full story, then I encourage you to definitely 0:01:27.110 --> 0:01:29.950 enroll in our online course, which will go into much 0:01:29.950 --> 0:01:30.670 more depth. 0:01:30.830 --> 0:01:32.630 For now, we'll give you a preview of the Iliad, 0:01:32.630 --> 0:01:36.110 which chronologically falls before the Odyssey. It is the story 0:01:36.110 --> 0:01:40.630 of war, of rage, of martial virtue, and the pursuit 0:01:40.630 --> 0:01:43.630 of honor on the battlefield that serves as a contrast 0:01:43.630 --> 0:01:45.670 to the way of life depicted in The Odyssey, which 0:01:45.670 --> 0:01:49.790 we'll discuss next week. But Doctor Smith takes us through 0:01:50.190 --> 0:01:54.870 the great Archonship, the great craftsmanship of Homer in telling 0:01:54.870 --> 0:01:59.070 this story about the greatest warriors of all time. So 0:01:59.460 --> 0:02:02.220 Enjoy this lecture on Homer's epic poem, The Ode. 0:02:06.340 --> 0:02:09.660 So where to begin with Homer's Iliad? Common sense place 0:02:09.660 --> 0:02:12.660 to start is with the author and the title. What 0:02:12.660 --> 0:02:17.139 does Iliad mean? It means a poem about ilium or 0:02:17.139 --> 0:02:20.900 about Troy. And this poem centers on the Trojan War, 0:02:21.540 --> 0:02:26.339 an event that took place around 1200 BC. Now, regarding Homer, 0:02:26.380 --> 0:02:28.340 there's been a good deal of discussion of the authorship 0:02:28.340 --> 0:02:30.900 of the poems. The discussion I don't really want to 0:02:30.900 --> 0:02:34.420 get into today, but the poem obviously has oral roots. 0:02:34.460 --> 0:02:38.260 It was obviously performed, but it's also, in my opinion, 0:02:38.260 --> 0:02:42.580 clearly by Homer, a poet we think lived around the 0:02:42.580 --> 0:02:47.860 eighth century BC. So much discussion is offered of Homer 0:02:48.100 --> 0:02:51.100 and the composition of the poem. But the edition that 0:02:51.100 --> 0:02:55.260 we're using today, Robert Fagles Iliad, offers this as. After 0:02:55.260 --> 0:02:58.900 summarizing the dispute as a conclusion. All of this is, 0:02:58.900 --> 0:03:02.140 of course, speculation, but so are all other attempts to 0:03:02.180 --> 0:03:04.900 explain the origin of the Iliad that has come down 0:03:04.900 --> 0:03:07.419 to us. We shall never be able to answer all 0:03:07.419 --> 0:03:10.940 the questions it raises with any certainty, and must rest 0:03:10.940 --> 0:03:15.500 content with this fact that a great poet marshaled the 0:03:15.500 --> 0:03:19.620 resources of an age old traditional art to create something new. 0:03:20.100 --> 0:03:23.340 The epic of Achilles rage and Hector's death, which has 0:03:23.340 --> 0:03:27.540 been a model for epic poetry ever since. So I'll 0:03:28.100 --> 0:03:30.740 more or less consistently call the the author of this 0:03:30.740 --> 0:03:36.020 poem Homer and and put aside the controversy over the 0:03:36.020 --> 0:03:38.540 composition of the poem and how it came down to us. 0:03:39.220 --> 0:03:43.140 So Homer's Iliad. Um, I guess just a couple other 0:03:43.140 --> 0:03:45.220 things to, to get you a little bit excited about 0:03:45.220 --> 0:03:51.580 reading this poem. Great judge from antiquity. Aristotle described Homer's poems, 0:03:51.580 --> 0:03:55.580 the Iliad and the Odyssey as, quote, constructed as well 0:03:55.580 --> 0:04:00.010 as possible. They come as close as possible to the 0:04:00.010 --> 0:04:04.490 ideal for a poem. So Aristotle, author of the Nicomachean 0:04:04.490 --> 0:04:08.530 Ethics and other texts, no mean judge. In fact, someone 0:04:08.530 --> 0:04:11.370 in modernity remarked that to think well is to think 0:04:11.370 --> 0:04:16.290 like Aristotle. So his opinion of this poem in particular 0:04:16.890 --> 0:04:20.570 very high. And then in the Middle Ages, Dante Alighieri, 0:04:20.610 --> 0:04:24.250 the author of The Divine Comedy, writes this. Well, it's 0:04:24.250 --> 0:04:27.530 in the Inferno. And he sees the shade of of 0:04:27.529 --> 0:04:32.450 Homer and says this, behold, the one whose right hand 0:04:32.490 --> 0:04:36.490 wields the sword. Behold, the one who comes before other 0:04:36.490 --> 0:04:41.250 poets as their Lord. That is Homer, the sovereign of 0:04:41.250 --> 0:04:44.610 my favorite lines on behalf of Homer. That is the 0:04:44.610 --> 0:04:50.170 Bard Supreme. That is Homer. So when we approach this poem, um, 0:04:50.330 --> 0:04:53.970 we're approaching the first great epic and and perhaps the 0:04:53.970 --> 0:04:58.680 best Aristotle and Dante with with high, high praise. So 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.040 what's the background of the poem? As you may know, 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:07.279 the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus, a Greek, 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.920 and brought her back to Troy. Now, abduct is kind 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.640 of a strong word for the Iliad. The more you 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:18.640 read the Iliad, it starts to look like Helen in Paris. Um, well, 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:20.680 as they say, it takes two to tango. It looks 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:25.760 like an affair in Homer's judgment. And when Trojan Paris 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:30.320 takes Helen back to Troy. Uh, the Trojan War begins. 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.200 Helen is the face that launched a thousand ships. Uh, 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:39.080 and her abduction, uh, begins the war. Now, as far 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.520 as this poem goes, one of the surprising things when 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.200 you read it for the first time. Of course, it's 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.800 my hope that that's exactly what you'll do after listening 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:49.599 to these brief remarks. You'll notice that you don't get 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:54.120 the complete account of the war. In fact, um, you 0:05:54.120 --> 0:06:00.549 get about 55 days in year ten of the Trojan War. Really? 0:06:00.589 --> 0:06:03.350 Right about the a little bit before the death of 0:06:03.350 --> 0:06:05.150 one of the main characters and a little bit before 0:06:05.150 --> 0:06:08.390 the fall of Troy itself. Whenever I teach to tech 0:06:08.390 --> 0:06:12.070 students are often disappointed by this. They want the whole story. 0:06:12.070 --> 0:06:15.630 They want beginning to end, but they get instead what 0:06:15.670 --> 0:06:19.630 Homer gives them, which again is about 55 days or so. 0:06:20.150 --> 0:06:22.270 So you don't get the beginning of the war. You 0:06:22.270 --> 0:06:24.630 don't get the end of the war. You just get 0:06:24.670 --> 0:06:28.550 what Homer wants to give you, which is 55 days 0:06:28.550 --> 0:06:31.830 or so. Now, whenever I pronounce characters names, I'm going 0:06:31.830 --> 0:06:35.270 to follow the pronunciation guide in this edition of the Iliad. 0:06:35.830 --> 0:06:39.710 Just a little note my approach to the Iliad. What 0:06:39.710 --> 0:06:43.470 I want to suggest today is that Homer, this great poet, 0:06:44.070 --> 0:06:48.230 represents and probes the world of the Iliad and the 0:06:48.230 --> 0:06:52.950 soul's living and striving and dying in it. Um. Why? 0:06:54.190 --> 0:06:59.420 Why represent them? Why probe them? Um, the poem is 0:06:59.420 --> 0:07:04.260 not a simple reflection of, um, the cultural values of 0:07:04.260 --> 0:07:08.420 the heroes. It's actually considerably more philosophical than that. But 0:07:08.420 --> 0:07:11.780 it's important to see that it both represents this world, 0:07:11.780 --> 0:07:16.460 these souls, these heroes. Their value, their education, their culture 0:07:17.420 --> 0:07:22.620 and probes them or examines them. I think, finally, the 0:07:22.620 --> 0:07:27.700 Iliad itself offers to the reader the kind of education 0:07:27.860 --> 0:07:33.260 that Homer's heroes um, lack and, and a lack that 0:07:33.540 --> 0:07:36.100 in many cases destroys them. So again, I hope this 0:07:36.100 --> 0:07:39.820 brief introduction to the text will intrigue you and make 0:07:39.820 --> 0:07:42.980 you run out and get a copy of Homer's Iliad 0:07:43.020 --> 0:07:46.100 to read and enjoy. So I've divided the talk today 0:07:46.100 --> 0:07:49.740 into seven parts. The poem of rage. Poem of desire. 0:07:49.780 --> 0:07:53.900 Poem of delusion. Poem of disaster. Poem of death. This 0:07:53.980 --> 0:07:58.860 is very cheerful poem of responsibility and evasion. And finally, 0:07:58.860 --> 0:08:01.620 poem of glory. Question mark. So what I want to 0:08:01.620 --> 0:08:04.820 do is just briefly work through what I consider some 0:08:04.820 --> 0:08:07.940 essential high points of the text and share them with 0:08:07.940 --> 0:08:11.100 you and share some thoughts with you. So first poem 0:08:11.140 --> 0:08:14.380 of rage in the Fagles translation. Rage is the first 0:08:14.380 --> 0:08:16.740 word of the poem. And I want to read it 0:08:16.740 --> 0:08:21.100 out loud because it's so important. It's very famous. Opening, um, 0:08:21.580 --> 0:08:25.140 usually commands a pause in the classroom and in Fagles 0:08:25.140 --> 0:08:30.580 rendition is particularly grand. So here's how the poem opens. Rage. 0:08:30.580 --> 0:08:36.860 Goddess sing the rage of Peleus son. Achilles. Murderous, doomed. 0:08:37.500 --> 0:08:41.460 That cost the Achaeans countless losses. Hurling down to the 0:08:41.460 --> 0:08:46.500 house of death. So many sturdy souls, great fighters, souls 0:08:46.980 --> 0:08:51.420 but made their bodies carrion feasts for dogs and birds. 0:08:52.260 --> 0:08:56.010 And the will of Zeus was moving toward its end. 0:08:56.610 --> 0:09:01.250 The famous opening identifying the subject of the poem quite 0:09:01.250 --> 0:09:05.450 simply as rage. Now students often wonder, how is it 0:09:05.450 --> 0:09:09.170 possible to write an epic on anger? So what kind 0:09:09.170 --> 0:09:12.530 of rage are we talking about? The rage of Achilles. 0:09:14.170 --> 0:09:16.610 When you when you approach a text like this, the 0:09:16.610 --> 0:09:21.810 best dispositions you can have is that of wonder. Homer's 0:09:21.809 --> 0:09:25.209 not going to explain in the opening lines why he 0:09:25.210 --> 0:09:27.930 thinks the rage of Achilles is worth writing an epic on. 0:09:28.330 --> 0:09:30.450 You have to discover that and learn that through the 0:09:30.450 --> 0:09:34.490 reading of the book and careful reflection on it. So 0:09:34.490 --> 0:09:37.650 never be afraid of wonder when you study these great 0:09:37.650 --> 0:09:41.810 literary works. It's really the essential passion that's at the 0:09:41.809 --> 0:09:46.130 heart of learning. Plato says it's the beginning of philosophy. 0:09:47.450 --> 0:09:51.650 It's also the passion that keeps philosophy going. So the 0:09:51.650 --> 0:09:55.840 rage of Achilles is the subject of this poem. And 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.960 Homer throws in the will of Zeus. The rage of 0:09:59.960 --> 0:10:03.720 Achilles is obviously violent, murderous, doomed. It's described in great 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:08.880 detail the will of Zeus, considerably more mysterious. All we 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:12.720 know is it's moving and it's moving toward its end. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:19.640 And one clear, violent rage, the other mysterious both of 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.720 them worth our wonder as we begin the book. So 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:27.120 poem of rage. The poem begins with a great and 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:33.000 a famous quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles. Agamemnon is the 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.280 king of the Greeks. Achilles is a king in his 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.719 own right, but a lesser king. He's the greatest warrior 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:42.240 at Troy. The Greeks are dying at the beginning of 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:47.640 the poem from a plague, because King Agamemnon has refused 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.830 to return. The daughter of the priest of Apollo. Everyone 0:10:51.830 --> 0:10:56.230 urges him to. He refuses. The plague strikes the camp 0:10:56.270 --> 0:11:00.750 sent by Apollo. Now the quarrel breaks out when Achilles 0:11:00.750 --> 0:11:05.550 and the Greeks urge Agamemnon to return to General Agamemnon, 0:11:05.550 --> 0:11:08.030 who is a proud soul at the best of times, 0:11:08.030 --> 0:11:12.510 perhaps erupts in anger and says he won't give her back. 0:11:12.550 --> 0:11:15.670 Then he begins to come around, and he says with 0:11:15.670 --> 0:11:18.950 a threat, I'll give her back, but I'm going to 0:11:18.990 --> 0:11:22.590 take another prize that is her equal. And you know, Achilles, 0:11:22.790 --> 0:11:26.510 I may just take your prize. So the fight between 0:11:26.510 --> 0:11:30.870 them involves the wages of the war. I suppose the 0:11:30.870 --> 0:11:35.590 prize of honor in this case. A young lady named Briseus. 0:11:37.230 --> 0:11:41.430 Achilles is outraged by this, and the quarrel breaks out 0:11:41.429 --> 0:11:45.790 between them. He almost kills Agamemnon, but then is stopped 0:11:46.390 --> 0:11:50.150 and decides to withdraw from the war and retreat to 0:11:50.270 --> 0:11:54.630 his tent, smoldering with with rage. Now, at first it 0:11:54.630 --> 0:11:57.309 can seem like this quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles is 0:11:57.309 --> 0:12:00.510 completely ridiculous. Students often think, are these guys just a 0:12:00.510 --> 0:12:04.550 bunch of adolescents, you know, fighting over a girl? This 0:12:04.550 --> 0:12:08.670 is rather mortifying. Rather embarrassing. But there's an important dispute 0:12:08.670 --> 0:12:14.390 between Agamemnon and Achilles. Agamemnon is the king. He has 0:12:14.429 --> 0:12:19.189 a scepter. He is sort of excellent by by custom 0:12:19.190 --> 0:12:24.150 and by office. Achilles is the greatest warrior. He's excellent 0:12:24.150 --> 0:12:28.910 by nature. By his own abilities, he is brilliant. Achilles. 0:12:29.230 --> 0:12:32.150 Agamemnon is the lord of men. So the fight at 0:12:32.150 --> 0:12:36.910 the beginning involves not only the girl, but which of 0:12:36.910 --> 0:12:41.229 these men is the best man? The king by custom 0:12:41.670 --> 0:12:46.350 or Achilles? They both think, as you'll find out when 0:12:46.350 --> 0:12:48.750 you read it, they both think I am the best. 0:12:48.750 --> 0:12:52.540 I am the greater man, and the quarrel breaks out. 0:12:52.580 --> 0:12:57.300 For these reasons. So at the beginning, that's how things start. 0:12:58.059 --> 0:13:01.420 Now the rage of Achilles, the palm of rage. Is 0:13:01.420 --> 0:13:05.380 that all? How could that begin? An epic poem. Well, 0:13:05.380 --> 0:13:07.100 when you when you read a little bit more in 0:13:07.100 --> 0:13:12.740 book one, something pretty astonishing happens. Achilles retreats to the 0:13:12.740 --> 0:13:15.860 side of the sea, and he has a conversation with 0:13:15.860 --> 0:13:20.420 his mother. And in this conversation, he makes the first 0:13:20.420 --> 0:13:23.380 and maybe the most famous of the prayers in the poem. 0:13:24.660 --> 0:13:26.620 I want to read it to you because this is really, 0:13:26.620 --> 0:13:29.140 I think, the beginning of of the rage of Achilles. 0:13:29.580 --> 0:13:34.540 So he's smarting, he's mortified, he feels humiliated. His honor 0:13:34.540 --> 0:13:39.260 has been taken from him. He's angry. And he offers 0:13:39.260 --> 0:13:43.860 this prayer to his mother. Turns out Achilles mother is 0:13:43.860 --> 0:13:46.540 a goddess, and Zeus owes her a favor. Always helpful. 0:13:46.900 --> 0:13:52.010 Remind him of that mother. Go sit beside Zeus. Grasp 0:13:52.010 --> 0:13:56.250 his knees. Persuade him somehow to help the Trojan cause. 0:13:56.970 --> 0:14:01.450 To pin the Achaeans back against their ships, to trap 0:14:01.450 --> 0:14:06.209 them round the bay and mow them down so all 0:14:06.210 --> 0:14:10.010 can reap the benefits of their king Agamemnon. So even 0:14:10.010 --> 0:14:14.090 he can see how mad he was to disgrace Achilles, 0:14:14.370 --> 0:14:19.290 the best of the Achaeans. Now that prayer is the 0:14:19.290 --> 0:14:22.010 most important thing, I think that happens in book one. 0:14:22.970 --> 0:14:26.490 What did he ask for in his humiliation and his anger? 0:14:27.090 --> 0:14:32.250 He asked for the destruction of his own friends and countrymen, 0:14:33.210 --> 0:14:38.970 and he disgraced me. Mow them down. Why? So that 0:14:38.970 --> 0:14:43.410 he and they can know I am the best. So 0:14:43.410 --> 0:14:48.400 the prayer is both a desire for revenge, I suppose 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:54.000 desire for justice, but also for self exaltation. But at 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.360 the cost of his countrymen's lives. So for many readers, 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.640 Achilles has a point in the quarrel up to a 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:06.320 certain point. But when he makes this prayer, everyone goes, hey, 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.240 hold on a second. You just prayed for the death 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:14.520 of the Achaeans for the sake of your honor and glory. 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:21.160 The first casualty of the rage of Achilles is friendship. 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:25.920 Common good. When Zeus hears the prayer, he utters his 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:27.920 first word in the poem. He's a big character in 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:32.920 the poem, right? Disaster. And later in the poem, this 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:37.960 prayer will be described as the disastrous prayer that Achilles made. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.480 So everything comes from this prayer that he makes in 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:46.120 his rage. And he prays for the death of his 0:15:46.270 --> 0:15:50.590 friends and his countrymen. So the rage of Achilles begins 0:15:50.590 --> 0:15:53.230 in that way. And again Zeus greets it with this 0:15:53.230 --> 0:15:58.630 word disaster. And the poem commences on that note. Now, 0:15:58.630 --> 0:16:02.070 the second point, a poem of desire. One of the 0:16:02.070 --> 0:16:05.110 master themes of the whole poem. In a way, what's 0:16:05.110 --> 0:16:10.630 behind Achilles rage is desire. In the 20th century, William Faulkner, 0:16:10.670 --> 0:16:15.190 the great American novelist, said that his specialties was writing 0:16:15.190 --> 0:16:19.510 about the human heart in conflict with itself. And we 0:16:19.510 --> 0:16:23.710 see this on display quite, quite powerfully in the Iliad. 0:16:24.310 --> 0:16:27.310 I want to look at just three examples on this 0:16:27.310 --> 0:16:31.910 poem of desire theme. The first, of course, Achilles, um, 0:16:32.150 --> 0:16:37.870 longs for his own glory, longs for honor, for self exaltation. 0:16:38.110 --> 0:16:41.110 But that's not all there is to Achilles. Uh, it 0:16:41.110 --> 0:16:46.190 turns out he's quite attached to his home as well. Um. 0:16:46.310 --> 0:16:50.630 And he longs to escape death in general. And one 0:16:50.630 --> 0:16:53.190 of the most important things to realize about Achilles, the 0:16:53.190 --> 0:16:55.550 more we get into the poem. I mentioned his mother 0:16:55.550 --> 0:16:58.590 as a goddess. Well, his father is a mortal man. 0:16:59.110 --> 0:17:02.550 So he's sort of a mixed breed, I suppose. He 0:17:02.550 --> 0:17:07.270 has a mortal father. He's doomed to die. But he 0:17:07.270 --> 0:17:10.670 has that immortal mother. And because of that, he has 0:17:10.670 --> 0:17:15.390 real immortal longings in him. But those longings create a 0:17:15.390 --> 0:17:19.590 conflict between the longing for glory and the longing for 0:17:19.590 --> 0:17:24.190 for home. He says in book nine, very famously, two 0:17:24.230 --> 0:17:27.389 fates bear me on to the day of death, and 0:17:27.390 --> 0:17:29.190 I want to look at that text for a second. 0:17:29.590 --> 0:17:32.550 Look at page 265. This is the embassy to Achilles 0:17:32.550 --> 0:17:35.710 in book nine. So Achilles has been sitting out after 0:17:35.710 --> 0:17:38.950 the prayer and after the quarrel. And the Greeks come 0:17:38.950 --> 0:17:41.390 to him trying to persuade him to re-enter the war. 0:17:42.510 --> 0:17:46.660 But to the point poem of desire, Mother tells me 0:17:47.340 --> 0:17:51.060 the immortal goddess, that two fates bear me on to 0:17:51.100 --> 0:17:54.700 the day of death. If I hold out here and 0:17:54.700 --> 0:17:59.340 lay siege to Troy. My journey home is gone, but 0:17:59.340 --> 0:18:03.860 my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland. 0:18:03.859 --> 0:18:09.820 I love my pride. My glory dies. That's true. But 0:18:09.820 --> 0:18:13.580 the life that's left me then will be long. The 0:18:13.580 --> 0:18:17.940 stroke of death will not come quickly. So for Achilles, 0:18:18.980 --> 0:18:22.980 as he. As he says. I could stay here and 0:18:22.980 --> 0:18:26.540 win great glory. But die young. I could go home, 0:18:26.820 --> 0:18:31.820 enjoy a long life, but obscurity. Now, one of the 0:18:31.820 --> 0:18:34.180 funny things about the poem, as I mentioned at the beginning, 0:18:34.220 --> 0:18:39.220 we're in year ten of the war, 55 days more 0:18:39.220 --> 0:18:42.220 or less the action of the poem. The Greeks have 0:18:42.220 --> 0:18:45.970 been in Troy for a decade trying to break the city. 0:18:46.890 --> 0:18:49.570 One of the most funny things about Achilles is he 0:18:49.570 --> 0:18:52.730 keeps saying, I could go home tomorrow. I could leave 0:18:53.170 --> 0:18:56.450 two fates. Bear me to the day of death. Stay here, 0:18:56.450 --> 0:18:59.490 fight and die. But when glory go home, long life 0:18:59.490 --> 0:19:04.209 and obscurity. But the reality is he's been there for nine, 0:19:04.770 --> 0:19:09.970 ten years. So which desire is stronger in him? Clearly 0:19:09.970 --> 0:19:13.170 the longing for glory. But you wouldn't want to overlook 0:19:13.210 --> 0:19:16.770 how much he longs for home and how much he 0:19:16.770 --> 0:19:20.929 longs to escape death. That's what makes him a deep character. Actually, 0:19:22.090 --> 0:19:24.810 I mentioned a couple other examples. We haven't talked about 0:19:24.810 --> 0:19:28.369 the Trojans at all. I mentioned Paris abducting Helen, so 0:19:28.369 --> 0:19:33.010 why don't we take them? First up, Helen and Paris. 0:19:33.530 --> 0:19:38.730 They two souls of strong desire. They long for beauty, 0:19:39.770 --> 0:19:44.600 for Eros, for erotic desire and for escape. There are 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:49.520 two of the most famously frustrating characters in the poem Helen. 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:54.160 As I mentioned in Homer's account, looks like a willing abductee. 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:02.440 Her main activity in the poem is berating herself, staying 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:08.240 at Troy and weaving a gorgeous robe, a work of 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.639 art on which she depicts all the suffering that folks 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.600 have endured for her sake. So she's quite a character. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.879 She describes the war this way. It was all for me. 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.280 Or it is all for me horror that I am. 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.760 And for this mad, blind Paris. Oh, the two of us. 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.439 Zeus planted a killing doom within us. So even for 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:37.239 generations still unborn, we will live in song. So she 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.680 likes to describe herself as doomed. She likes to describe 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:44.470 herself as a whore. She likes to describe her husband 0:20:44.470 --> 0:20:49.109 as blind and mad, but neither of them make any 0:20:49.109 --> 0:20:53.070 changes to, uh, to their character or to their approach. 0:20:53.790 --> 0:20:58.909 So they have this capacity for seeing the truth and yet, uh, 0:20:58.910 --> 0:21:01.909 remain as they are. One of the more frustrating things 0:21:01.910 --> 0:21:14.629 in the poem. What about Paris? He looks like a 0:21:14.630 --> 0:21:19.310 great warrior. My sons were asking me earlier who would 0:21:19.310 --> 0:21:22.750 play Paris in the movie. He looks like a great warrior. 0:21:23.230 --> 0:21:28.510 He's got the glistening locks. All these weapons. Um, a 0:21:28.510 --> 0:21:33.310 reflex bow, double spears. But according to his brother Hector, 0:21:33.350 --> 0:21:38.709 no pith within him. So he's a beautiful exterior. Handsome exterior, 0:21:39.190 --> 0:21:43.070 but no real pith. And at the beginning of the 0:21:43.070 --> 0:21:48.910 poem he meets Menelaus, Helen's husband, and they have an 0:21:48.910 --> 0:21:54.230 almost duel. But Paris escapes in cowardly fashion with the 0:21:54.230 --> 0:21:58.630 help of Aphrodite. He gets back to Troy and his 0:21:58.630 --> 0:22:00.709 wife berates him. She said, you are such a coward. 0:22:00.710 --> 0:22:02.630 I can't believe I'm married to you. You wouldn't even 0:22:02.630 --> 0:22:07.389 fight Menelaus. To which she says, you know, honey, everything 0:22:07.390 --> 0:22:10.870 you're saying about me is true. But let's do this. 0:22:11.590 --> 0:22:15.790 Let's go back to bed. Let's lose ourselves in love. 0:22:16.590 --> 0:22:21.030 Never has longing for you overwhelmed me, so. Not even then. 0:22:21.070 --> 0:22:24.790 The first time I swept you away, that was nothing. 0:22:24.790 --> 0:22:29.310 For how I hunger for you now, dear, irresistible longing 0:22:29.350 --> 0:22:32.869 lays me low. Now what usually lays you low in 0:22:32.910 --> 0:22:35.910 the Iliad would be a spear. Or being killed violently. 0:22:36.910 --> 0:22:40.939 What brings about your death here in Paris? In Helen's case, 0:22:40.940 --> 0:22:45.460 it's their desire. So poem of desire. You have Achilles 0:22:45.460 --> 0:22:49.580 and his desire. Helen and Paris's desire and their desire 0:22:50.020 --> 0:22:54.899 launched the war. Now, the last example I'd give is Hector. Hector, 0:22:54.940 --> 0:23:00.500 the prince of Troy. The best defense of the city. 0:23:00.500 --> 0:23:05.500 The mighty opposite of Achilles in Homer's depiction. He's also 0:23:05.500 --> 0:23:08.940 a family man. There's a very tender scene in book 0:23:08.940 --> 0:23:13.380 six between his wife and his newborn son, and in 0:23:13.420 --> 0:23:17.540 that scene, Hector emerges. He looks like the opposite of 0:23:17.540 --> 0:23:21.020 Achilles in a way. He's very concerned with Troy and 0:23:21.020 --> 0:23:24.180 the common good. He's fighting for others, for his family. 0:23:24.220 --> 0:23:28.340 He's a man of honor. He's a great warrior. But 0:23:28.340 --> 0:23:32.180 his wife says something quite striking when she sees him 0:23:32.180 --> 0:23:35.139 come back from battle instead of saying, oh, honey, it 0:23:35.140 --> 0:23:38.899 must have been a tough day at the office. She says, oh, 0:23:38.940 --> 0:23:44.369 reckless one, my Hector, your own fiery courage will destroy you. 0:23:46.050 --> 0:23:48.050 So the first thing that his wife says in the 0:23:48.050 --> 0:23:51.609 poem is not. You are the one who defends Troy. 0:23:52.090 --> 0:23:56.530 You are this, you are that. She prophesies his self-destruction 0:23:57.090 --> 0:24:02.010 because of his recklessness and his own fiery courage. Later, 0:24:02.010 --> 0:24:07.689 after his death. Spoiler alert. Um, she will say. Did 0:24:07.690 --> 0:24:11.889 Achilles put an end to the fatal, headstrong pride that 0:24:11.890 --> 0:24:17.330 would always sees my husband? His wife knows her husband 0:24:17.330 --> 0:24:21.130 quite well, it turns out. And there's considerably more to 0:24:21.290 --> 0:24:24.330 Hector than the defense of Troy. Or love of the family. 0:24:25.010 --> 0:24:29.050 He's a man of fire as well, of headstrong pride 0:24:29.690 --> 0:24:33.689 and of keen desire for glory. Now, all of these 0:24:33.690 --> 0:24:37.850 forms of desire, um, are are wild in the poem. 0:24:37.850 --> 0:24:41.200 The tragic forms of it, and it reminds me of 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.920 something Homer writes later in The Odyssey. In that poem, 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.040 Odysseus goes to the underworld and he wants to know 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:51.080 how do we get home again after all this wandering? 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:55.600 How do we do it? And Tiresias tells him, if 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.680 you could only learn how to curb your wild desire 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:04.320 and your crew, you might just see your home again. 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:07.320 But that's the real challenge in the poems of Homer, 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:12.800 is that desire is almost irresistible. It's powerful. It's at 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:16.080 the heart of who we are. It also has this 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:21.280 destructive tendency, this wild tendency, who can curb it, who 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.560 can rule it, who can direct it? The characters struggle 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:27.919 mightily with it. Now, another big theme in the poem 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:31.600 is delusion and deception. You want to be on the 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:37.560 lookout for examples of characters blaming the gods. It becomes 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:40.990 kind of comical at a certain point. Helen in Paris, 0:25:41.030 --> 0:25:43.869 we mentioned their affair started the war. So when you 0:25:43.910 --> 0:25:47.390 hear Priam, the king of Troy, say to Helen, come here, dear, 0:25:47.430 --> 0:25:50.430 sit next to me. I don't hold you to blame. 0:25:50.510 --> 0:25:53.550 I hold the gods to blame. It's hard not to 0:25:54.350 --> 0:25:59.310 not to not to be amazed, actually. Or Agamemnon. It 0:25:59.310 --> 0:26:01.230 looks like he's the cause of the quarrel at the 0:26:01.230 --> 0:26:04.670 beginning of the poem in book one. But he blames Zeus. 0:26:04.869 --> 0:26:09.390 He blames ruin. He blames anyone but himself for his 0:26:09.390 --> 0:26:13.870 own actions. In fact, in class this past semester, we were. 0:26:13.869 --> 0:26:16.390 We were joking that if Zeus could make a t shirt, 0:26:16.710 --> 0:26:19.669 it would say, don't blame me on it. He could 0:26:19.710 --> 0:26:23.350 circulate it to the characters in the Iliad, even Paris, 0:26:23.470 --> 0:26:26.669 the beautiful Paris to kind of Fabio figure in the 0:26:26.670 --> 0:26:30.270 poem he says, hey, look to his brother. I didn't 0:26:30.270 --> 0:26:33.070 vote for these good looks. I didn't I didn't vote 0:26:33.070 --> 0:26:37.869 for being Paris. It's just a gift of Aphrodite. Don't 0:26:37.869 --> 0:26:42.070 blame me. So this this theme in the poem is 0:26:42.109 --> 0:26:46.030 is just as important as the others. Why do the 0:26:46.070 --> 0:26:50.310 characters locate responsibility somewhere other than in their own will 0:26:50.350 --> 0:26:55.109 or their own freedom? Reminiscent, perhaps, of the text of Genesis. 0:26:55.910 --> 0:26:59.790 The woman you gave me gave me the fruit. Or 0:26:59.830 --> 0:27:04.310 Shakespeare's King Lear. This is the excellent foppery of the 0:27:04.310 --> 0:27:07.909 world that when we are sick in fortune, often the 0:27:07.910 --> 0:27:10.950 surfeit of our own behaviors we make guilty of our 0:27:10.950 --> 0:27:15.510 disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, anything but ourselves. 0:27:16.470 --> 0:27:20.990 So freedom and responsibility. Quite an important theme here. I 0:27:20.990 --> 0:27:25.710 mentioned delusion and deception. So the key delusion is the 0:27:25.710 --> 0:27:31.150 blame game. But deception, truth telling and lying very important 0:27:31.150 --> 0:27:35.950 as well. Ares, the god of war, is described as duplicitous, 0:27:36.100 --> 0:27:41.620 Two faced a liar. But Achilles is particularly sensitive on 0:27:41.619 --> 0:27:45.020 this point of truth telling. And lying in that same 0:27:45.020 --> 0:27:48.700 embassy scene I mentioned earlier, he meets Odysseus, the hero 0:27:48.700 --> 0:27:51.660 of the Odyssey, and they have a brief exchange that's 0:27:51.660 --> 0:27:57.020 very famous. This is on page 262, Royal son of Laertes. 0:27:57.060 --> 0:28:01.139 Achilles says, I must say what I have to say 0:28:01.180 --> 0:28:04.420 straight out. I must tell you how I feel and 0:28:04.420 --> 0:28:07.859 how this whole thing will end. So in his own understanding, 0:28:07.900 --> 0:28:10.300 his own self-image, Achilles is the kind of guy who 0:28:10.300 --> 0:28:14.180 just tells you how it is, tells it like it is, 0:28:14.740 --> 0:28:17.420 you know, perhaps smooth as a train wreck, that type. 0:28:18.220 --> 0:28:22.220 But here's the famous line. I hate that man. Like 0:28:22.220 --> 0:28:25.740 the very gates of death who says one thing with 0:28:25.740 --> 0:28:29.859 his lips but holds another in his heart. I will 0:28:29.859 --> 0:28:35.220 say it outright. That's what seems best to me. Well, Agamemnon. Agamemnon, 0:28:35.250 --> 0:28:40.570 win me over? Never. So for Achilles, the most hateful 0:28:40.570 --> 0:28:46.770 thing as hateful as death is insincerity or lying. Now, 0:28:46.810 --> 0:28:49.410 most people who read. Many people who read the scene 0:28:50.010 --> 0:28:55.330 recognize some irony. Odysseus's strong suit is a tale telling 0:28:56.210 --> 0:29:02.170 wily behavior, verbal dexterity. He's the great rhetorician. He's not 0:29:02.170 --> 0:29:05.130 exactly the most truthful person you'll ever meet in literature. 0:29:05.610 --> 0:29:08.530 So for Achilles to say this to Odysseus has seemed 0:29:08.530 --> 0:29:12.490 to many, um, kind of witty. But I think that 0:29:12.490 --> 0:29:18.010 misses the more serious point, which is how do we judge? 0:29:18.010 --> 0:29:22.130 Or what is Achilles own truthfulness? Like? His point of 0:29:22.130 --> 0:29:25.330 pride is I'm the truth teller. I'm the one who 0:29:25.370 --> 0:29:30.090 tells it like it is, I hate liars. All these 0:29:30.090 --> 0:29:34.090 lines make particularly painful what happens in the second part 0:29:34.090 --> 0:29:39.280 of the poem, where Achilles in fact will withhold, even 0:29:39.320 --> 0:29:43.680 directly lie to his best friend about something that he knows. 0:29:45.160 --> 0:29:48.479 So again, just to keep it all straight, there's a quarrel. 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:52.160 In book one. Achilles makes his prayer. He's sitting out 0:29:52.160 --> 0:29:55.160 of the war. He will not come back. He says, 0:29:55.160 --> 0:29:56.920 I hate like the gates of death. The one who 0:29:56.920 --> 0:29:58.920 says one thing with his lips and holds another in 0:29:58.920 --> 0:30:04.960 his heart. But as the poem unfolds, Zeus grants Achilles prayer. 0:30:05.800 --> 0:30:09.959 So as book after book unfolds, death after death, battle 0:30:09.960 --> 0:30:13.800 after battle, the Greeks are being pushed back and the 0:30:13.800 --> 0:30:17.200 Trojans are are winning. And this brings the poem to 0:30:17.240 --> 0:30:20.640 a crisis point to Achilles. It looks like he's about 0:30:20.640 --> 0:30:23.800 to get what he wanted the whole time, which is 0:30:24.640 --> 0:30:28.800 his own exaltation. But at this desperate moment, one of 0:30:28.800 --> 0:30:32.520 the most remarkable things in the plot happens. The Greeks 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:38.600 are all wounded. They're dying. And old King Nestor intervenes. 0:30:40.120 --> 0:30:44.240 It turns out Achilles has a best friend. Patroclus or Patroclus, 0:30:44.600 --> 0:30:50.480 who's with him? Um, in the tent. He tells Patroclus. 0:30:51.560 --> 0:30:55.600 Is there any way, if Achilles won't help us, that 0:30:55.600 --> 0:31:00.520 you could go back to him and say, send me instead? 0:31:01.160 --> 0:31:06.360 Let me wear your armor, Achilles. Let me fight. That 0:31:06.360 --> 0:31:09.200 would scare the Trojans. They'd think it was you, and 0:31:09.200 --> 0:31:11.880 we'd be able to create a little breathing room in 0:31:11.880 --> 0:31:16.280 this terrible, terrible moment in the war. Now, at this moment, 0:31:16.880 --> 0:31:21.000 Achilles pauses and the question is asked directly to him. 0:31:21.960 --> 0:31:25.320 Is there some prophecy that, you know, deep down, Achilles, 0:31:25.880 --> 0:31:29.440 something that's making you balk? If so, say it outright. 0:31:29.720 --> 0:31:32.320 To which Achilles says, no, there's no prophecy at all. 0:31:33.430 --> 0:31:35.430 I think you should do this. I think this plan 0:31:35.430 --> 0:31:39.110 will work. And so he sends his best friend into battle, 0:31:39.110 --> 0:31:43.390 wearing his own armor. And of course, as you'll find 0:31:43.390 --> 0:31:46.469 out when you read it. I hope his best friend 0:31:46.510 --> 0:31:52.510 dies in battle. Now, I mentioned truth telling and lying. Well, 0:31:52.510 --> 0:31:55.070 it turns out Achilles has been keeping something to himself 0:31:55.350 --> 0:31:58.470 pretty successfully for the ten years they've been in Troy. 0:31:59.390 --> 0:32:02.750 A prophecy he learned from his mother that goes like this. 0:32:03.710 --> 0:32:09.550 While you live, Achilles, the best will die. Now, Achilles 0:32:09.550 --> 0:32:13.270 is particularly preoccupied with being the best man. He really 0:32:13.430 --> 0:32:18.070 keenly desires that title. So he hasn't. He hasn't mentioned 0:32:18.110 --> 0:32:21.990 this prophecy to anyone. He's kept it to himself. Now 0:32:21.990 --> 0:32:26.630 his best friend Patroclus, is not only his best friend, 0:32:26.990 --> 0:32:30.350 but probably the most admired man in the Greek army 0:32:30.390 --> 0:32:32.620 when he. When he dies, the grieving over him is 0:32:32.620 --> 0:32:37.500 pretty extraordinary. He was supposed to be a counselor to Achilles. 0:32:37.820 --> 0:32:39.740 He was supposed to help Achilles. He's not as strong 0:32:39.740 --> 0:32:46.340 as Achilles, but he has judgment. And he has kindness. Now, 0:32:46.340 --> 0:32:50.580 if anyone in Achilles circle of friends would have qualified 0:32:50.580 --> 0:32:54.740 as the other best guy. This is probably his friend Patroclus. 0:32:55.180 --> 0:32:58.700 So when he's asked, do you know of any reason? 0:32:58.700 --> 0:33:01.260 Is there anything holding you back? And he says, no, 0:33:02.300 --> 0:33:06.540 he's sending his friend into battle with this prophecy haunting 0:33:06.540 --> 0:33:10.180 his mind. And he's he's lying to him. Now, of course, 0:33:10.180 --> 0:33:13.380 I mentioned Patroclus will meet his death in the poem 0:33:13.420 --> 0:33:15.820 The Hands of Hektor. One of the sadder moments in 0:33:15.820 --> 0:33:19.780 the poem and Achilles, while this is happening, is back 0:33:19.780 --> 0:33:23.060 at his tent, waiting and waiting for the news. And 0:33:23.060 --> 0:33:26.220 as Homer puts it very simply, while he was waiting, 0:33:26.220 --> 0:33:28.820 while he was presuming that Zeus was still fulfilling everything 0:33:28.820 --> 0:33:32.090 he wanted in book one, His best friend on earth 0:33:32.130 --> 0:33:36.690 lay dead. And this brings about, finally the re-entry of 0:33:36.690 --> 0:33:42.730 Achilles into the battle. Um, but it's a disaster. Personally, 0:33:42.730 --> 0:33:45.890 for Achilles, the death of his best friend and an 0:33:45.890 --> 0:33:50.650 example of his own double dealing when he prayed for 0:33:50.650 --> 0:33:52.770 all the Achaeans to be mowed down. That was a 0:33:52.770 --> 0:33:57.210 very general request. He probably didn't think. Does that include 0:33:57.210 --> 0:34:01.370 my best friend Zeus grants the prayer, and indeed it 0:34:01.370 --> 0:34:06.730 does include the best friend and he dies. So when 0:34:06.730 --> 0:34:09.570 we get to this key moment in the text, um, 0:34:09.730 --> 0:34:15.770 Achilles comes to a crisis point. He's sitting out, he 0:34:15.810 --> 0:34:18.330 sends his best friend, the best friend dies. He withheld 0:34:18.330 --> 0:34:23.250 the knowledge. What's going to happen next? Now, for my money, 0:34:23.570 --> 0:34:26.370 when the news reaches Achilles that his friend is dead. 0:34:26.770 --> 0:34:30.759 And of course, he bears some responsibility for this. We 0:34:30.760 --> 0:34:34.719 have the best moment in the poem so far. Your 0:34:34.719 --> 0:34:38.760 friend is dead. Achilles hears it. He falls to the ground. 0:34:38.760 --> 0:34:42.120 He pours a dirt over his head, fouls his white shirt, 0:34:43.040 --> 0:34:46.200 and then has a second important scene with his mother. 0:34:46.960 --> 0:34:48.759 And if you. If you love irony, this is a 0:34:48.760 --> 0:34:53.040 great scene. His mother comes and she's like, Achilles, why 0:34:53.080 --> 0:34:57.920 are you crying? What sorrow touches your heart? Zeus has 0:34:57.920 --> 0:35:03.280 accomplished everything you wanted. Just as you raised your hands 0:35:03.280 --> 0:35:06.719 and prayed that day. All the sons of Achaea are 0:35:06.719 --> 0:35:11.680 pinned against the ships. Everybody's dying. This is it. And 0:35:11.680 --> 0:35:19.200 groaning deeply, Achilles answered, oh, my dear mother! True. All 0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:24.200 those burning desires Olympian Zeus brought to pass. All of 0:35:24.200 --> 0:35:29.360 them have been fulfilled. But what joy to me, My 0:35:29.360 --> 0:35:33.280 dear comrade is dead. Patroclus, the man I love beyond 0:35:33.280 --> 0:35:37.680 all other comrades loved as my own life. I've lost him. 0:35:38.400 --> 0:35:42.440 Hector killed him. So this is a moment of agony 0:35:42.440 --> 0:35:47.360 for Achilles. A moment of perhaps self-knowledge. But as I 0:35:47.360 --> 0:35:51.120 mentioned earlier, characters in the Iliad have a remarkable capacity 0:35:51.160 --> 0:35:55.839 for discerning the truth and remaining as they are. So 0:35:55.840 --> 0:35:58.920 here is the golden moment, I suppose, for Achilles to 0:35:58.960 --> 0:36:04.440 examine himself, to grow in self-knowledge. But instead he focuses 0:36:04.440 --> 0:36:09.160 entirely on on Hector. Hector the murderer. Hector, the man 0:36:09.160 --> 0:36:13.760 who destroyed the dearest life I've known. I must go 0:36:13.760 --> 0:36:19.160 back into battle. I must kill Hector now. At that point, 0:36:19.320 --> 0:36:23.600 it's true Hector does kill Patroclus. But any careful reader 0:36:23.600 --> 0:36:28.190 would know that Achilles himself bears considerable responsibility as well. 0:36:29.070 --> 0:36:31.710 But in any event, on that note, he says, I'm 0:36:31.710 --> 0:36:36.190 reentering the war. And his mother says, my son, don't 0:36:36.190 --> 0:36:42.350 you know another prophecy? As as soon as you kill Hector, 0:36:42.910 --> 0:36:47.710 your own death is imminent. Your death follows his. And 0:36:47.710 --> 0:36:50.310 Achilles says, I don't care. I'm going back into war. 0:36:51.270 --> 0:36:56.109 And he does with a tremendous amount of violence and success. 0:36:56.550 --> 0:36:59.029 So he's going to get some new armor. He lost 0:36:59.030 --> 0:37:02.069 his armor to Hector, and he's going to go on 0:37:02.070 --> 0:37:06.310 a bit of a rampage. His war cry is extraordinary. 0:37:06.510 --> 0:37:13.230 Turning to death and outrage, Achilles extreme rage takes all 0:37:13.230 --> 0:37:17.190 sorts of forms when he cries aloud three times, 12 0:37:17.230 --> 0:37:20.110 Trojans die on their own spears. It's quite a cry. 0:37:21.910 --> 0:37:26.790 He kills many, many Trojans. And perhaps most graphically, he 0:37:26.790 --> 0:37:32.220 tries to fill a river with dead bodies and stop 0:37:32.219 --> 0:37:34.819 the flow of the river altogether, at which the river 0:37:34.860 --> 0:37:39.020 God finally cries out, you are greater than any man, Achilles, 0:37:39.219 --> 0:37:43.419 your greater in outrage to. Why are you cramming all 0:37:43.420 --> 0:37:49.740 my lovely flow with corpses? I am filled with horror. Stop! 0:37:50.860 --> 0:37:55.540 So as he. As he gets into battle again, men 0:37:55.540 --> 0:37:59.900 start dying. The river starts getting flowed, filled with corpses, 0:38:00.739 --> 0:38:04.259 and even the gods are a target of Achilles rage. 0:38:05.260 --> 0:38:08.900 Apollo tries to stop him at one point and Achilles says, 0:38:09.340 --> 0:38:15.060 are you a god? I'd pay you back if only 0:38:15.060 --> 0:38:18.140 I had the power. So at the end of the rage, 0:38:18.460 --> 0:38:22.340 what he wants is a kind of radical, right? Every 0:38:22.340 --> 0:38:25.500 single Trojan to die, he says at one point to 0:38:25.540 --> 0:38:28.410 stop the flow of a beautiful river with dead bodies 0:38:28.890 --> 0:38:32.130 to strike directly at the god Apollo and kill him. 0:38:33.410 --> 0:38:36.650 And this is before he's met Hektor. So when he 0:38:36.690 --> 0:38:42.890 finally does meet Hektor, his famous duel unfolds and Achilles 0:38:42.890 --> 0:38:45.410 will get what he wants in a way which is 0:38:45.410 --> 0:38:49.450 the defeat of of Hektor in battle. One of the 0:38:49.450 --> 0:38:53.170 best single books in the whole poem, book 22 features 0:38:53.170 --> 0:38:57.650 Hector's deliberations. Should he face Achilles or should he retreat 0:38:57.650 --> 0:39:00.730 to the city? Everyone wants him to retreat. Achilles is 0:39:00.730 --> 0:39:04.770 obviously having some some success in battle, but Hektor can't 0:39:04.770 --> 0:39:07.930 do it and he will stay outside the city walls, 0:39:07.930 --> 0:39:10.450 his father yelling, his mother yelling, everyone telling him to 0:39:10.450 --> 0:39:13.890 come back inside. And in this translation, he just says 0:39:13.890 --> 0:39:19.450 very simply, no way out. And Achilles will will kill him. 0:39:20.370 --> 0:39:24.530 So at this point in the poem, Achilles has re-entered 0:39:24.530 --> 0:39:29.680 the war. He's killed a tremendous number of people. He's raging. 0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:34.760 He's killed Hector and avenged himself for the death of Patroclus. 0:39:35.719 --> 0:39:38.000 But at this moment, which should be the high point. 0:39:38.000 --> 0:39:41.920 If you're Achilles, there is no greater prize in battle. 0:39:42.640 --> 0:39:44.839 There's no greater glory. You can win at Troy than 0:39:44.880 --> 0:39:49.080 defeating Hector. So what does. What does Achilles do? He 0:39:49.080 --> 0:39:53.600 defeats him. He glories over him. And then very quickly, 0:39:53.880 --> 0:39:59.719 he turns to outrage. He pierces his ankles, ties him 0:39:59.719 --> 0:40:03.680 behind the behind the horses chariot, and drags his body 0:40:03.680 --> 0:40:08.799 through the dust. It's fascinating how Homer shows that Achilles 0:40:08.800 --> 0:40:12.799 high point almost instantly becomes a low point. It goes 0:40:12.800 --> 0:40:17.560 from glory to outrage like that. And at this point, 0:40:17.560 --> 0:40:19.800 we're almost to the end of the narrative that Homer 0:40:19.800 --> 0:40:24.080 has set up. Achilles prayed in book one, he sent 0:40:24.160 --> 0:40:28.240 Patroclus into battle. That was a disaster. He re-enters battle, 0:40:28.280 --> 0:40:32.640 he kills Hector. He's got the body. He's dragging it around. 0:40:32.640 --> 0:40:36.840 Where will this end? And I think what's what's quite powerful. 0:40:36.920 --> 0:40:41.160 Come to the last portion of the talk. Um, it 0:40:41.160 --> 0:40:47.360 only ends through, um, this very quiet and beautiful book. 24. 0:40:48.440 --> 0:40:50.120 So when you come to the end of the poem, 0:40:50.120 --> 0:40:53.320 it's always good to remember the beginning. The subject was 0:40:53.320 --> 0:40:55.920 the rage of Achilles on the one hand, and the 0:40:55.920 --> 0:40:58.960 will of Zeus moving toward its end. So we shouldn't 0:40:58.960 --> 0:41:02.080 be surprised that when the rage ends and the will 0:41:02.120 --> 0:41:05.080 of Zeus is fulfilled, the poem ends. There's really a 0:41:05.080 --> 0:41:08.200 good deal of sense in how it's made. So where 0:41:08.200 --> 0:41:12.000 does the rage of Achilles lead him? By book 24. 0:41:13.000 --> 0:41:17.080 We're told he's unable to sleep. We're told he wanders 0:41:17.080 --> 0:41:23.200 along the sea aimlessly. We're told he drags the body 0:41:23.200 --> 0:41:27.110 of Hector. Round and round his friend's funeral pyre. For 0:41:27.110 --> 0:41:31.189 12 straight days, he just can't let Hector's body be 0:41:31.190 --> 0:41:34.510 buried for some reason. So 12 days. Imagine how shocking 0:41:34.510 --> 0:41:38.430 this would be. And dragging a human body around for 0:41:38.430 --> 0:41:42.310 12 days. So this is where the rage of Achilles 0:41:42.310 --> 0:41:48.150 finally leads him to this restless, aimless, kind of outrageous 0:41:48.150 --> 0:41:52.350 form of life. Now, at this point, finally, the gods 0:41:52.350 --> 0:41:55.509 can't take it anymore. Day 12 comes. You know, we 0:41:55.510 --> 0:41:58.830 can't let him keep treating Hector's body like this. We 0:41:58.830 --> 0:42:02.950 have to do something. And at this point, Zeus agrees 0:42:03.510 --> 0:42:07.830 and says, okay, tell him he must give the body back. 0:42:08.190 --> 0:42:12.790 Tell him this must end. He also adds one curious 0:42:12.790 --> 0:42:20.950 thing he says. In doing so, I will grant Achilles glory. 0:42:21.989 --> 0:42:25.140 So again, we're at a low point for Achilles. And 0:42:25.140 --> 0:42:29.379 yet now Zeus uses surprisingly the language of glory. There 0:42:29.380 --> 0:42:33.060 is no fighting in book 24. No one dies. No 0:42:33.060 --> 0:42:36.620 way to gain glory through battle. What kind of glory 0:42:36.620 --> 0:42:40.620 could could Achilles possibly attain? At the end of the poem, 0:42:40.660 --> 0:42:44.420 Zeus says he will. So what happens in book 24? 0:42:45.219 --> 0:42:49.500 Now for my money, book 24 is the high points 0:42:49.500 --> 0:42:53.980 of Western literature. I mentioned it's very quiet, very powerful, 0:42:54.900 --> 0:43:00.580 and really very moving. Hector's father, King Priam, is obviously 0:43:00.580 --> 0:43:04.060 very upset about how the body is being treated. He 0:43:04.060 --> 0:43:06.459 decides he's going to go under the cover of Darkness 0:43:06.900 --> 0:43:11.859 to Achilles himself and ask for the body back. He 0:43:11.860 --> 0:43:15.980 goes with the help of Hermes, and he arrives suddenly 0:43:15.980 --> 0:43:19.020 in the tent of Achilles. Now, after ten years of war, 0:43:19.060 --> 0:43:21.859 it's really astonishing moment. The King of Troy appears in 0:43:21.930 --> 0:43:26.969 Achilles tendon with a simple request could you please stop? 0:43:27.930 --> 0:43:30.210 Could you please give me my son's body back? I 0:43:30.210 --> 0:43:34.609 want to bury it. We're told in the tent. They've 0:43:34.610 --> 0:43:39.529 just finished supper. When Priam walks in, kneels down before 0:43:39.570 --> 0:43:45.210 Achilles and kisses him. The majestic King of Troy slipped 0:43:45.210 --> 0:43:49.089 past the rest and kneeling down beside Achilles, clasped his 0:43:49.090 --> 0:43:53.410 knees and kissed his hands. Those terrible man killing hands 0:43:53.730 --> 0:43:59.930 that had slaughtered Priam's many sons in battle. Awesome! Homer says. 0:44:00.730 --> 0:44:06.250 Wonderful as when madness seizes a man. So in a way, 0:44:06.250 --> 0:44:09.210 it's kind of crazy. I mean, given given Achilles feats 0:44:09.210 --> 0:44:14.930 in battle to actually go and supplicate him. It's beautiful. 0:44:15.330 --> 0:44:21.690 It's crazy. It's awesome. The words that he uses. Priam 0:44:21.690 --> 0:44:25.450 then speaks. He prays his heart out to Achilles. Same page. 0:44:26.850 --> 0:44:31.489 Remember your own father. Great godlike Achilles, as old as 0:44:31.489 --> 0:44:36.170 I am. Past the threshold of deadly old age. It's 0:44:36.170 --> 0:44:38.850 all for my boy, Hector, that I've come to your 0:44:38.850 --> 0:44:43.050 ships now to win him back from you. I bring 0:44:43.050 --> 0:44:48.569 a priceless ransom. Revere the gods, Achilles. Pity me in 0:44:48.570 --> 0:44:54.850 my own right. Remember your own father. I deserve more pity. 0:44:56.370 --> 0:44:59.210 I have endured what no one on earth has done before. 0:45:00.290 --> 0:45:02.890 I put to my lips the hands of the man 0:45:02.890 --> 0:45:07.450 who killed my son. And he kisses Achilles hands. Now, 0:45:07.450 --> 0:45:09.650 at this point, which is so powerful, I mean, the 0:45:09.650 --> 0:45:13.330 last thing you might think after listening to this kissing Achilles, 0:45:13.650 --> 0:45:18.770 kissing his hands. That's exactly what Priam does. Those words 0:45:18.770 --> 0:45:23.239 stirred within Achilles a deep desire to grieve for his 0:45:23.239 --> 0:45:27.480 own father. Taking the old man's hand, he gently moved 0:45:27.480 --> 0:45:32.520 him back and, overpowered by memory, both men gave way 0:45:32.520 --> 0:45:38.840 to grief. Priam wept for his son freely throbbing, crouching 0:45:38.840 --> 0:45:44.240 before Achilles. Achilles wept himself now for his father, now 0:45:44.239 --> 0:45:48.640 for his dead friend once again. And their sobbing rose 0:45:48.640 --> 0:45:53.080 and fell throughout the house. It's the most surprising things 0:45:53.080 --> 0:45:57.480 that could happen. Priam and Achilles share this moment of weeping. 0:45:59.080 --> 0:46:02.480 And when we're told the desire for it passes from them, 0:46:03.440 --> 0:46:07.759 they have a conversation. When brilliant Achilles had his fill 0:46:07.760 --> 0:46:11.320 of tears and the longing for weeping had left him, 0:46:11.920 --> 0:46:14.799 he rose from his seat, raised the old man by 0:46:14.800 --> 0:46:17.839 the hand, and filled with pity now for his grey 0:46:17.880 --> 0:46:21.670 head and grey beard He spoke out, winging words, flying 0:46:21.710 --> 0:46:26.470 straight to the heart. You poor man. How much you've 0:46:26.469 --> 0:46:31.310 borne pain to break the spirit. What daring brought you 0:46:31.350 --> 0:46:35.509 here to face me? You have a heart of iron. 0:46:35.950 --> 0:46:41.709 So Achilles is moved by. Not by martial glory, but 0:46:41.710 --> 0:46:46.790 by Priam begging for his son's body back. Now, the 0:46:46.790 --> 0:46:49.910 rest of the scene, a very quiet ending is full 0:46:49.910 --> 0:46:54.230 of significance. And I think finally, it reveals the glory 0:46:54.230 --> 0:46:59.350 that Zeus was talking about. Priam says, look, take the ransom. 0:46:59.350 --> 0:47:01.549 Bring it back home again. Now we know Achilles is 0:47:01.550 --> 0:47:05.270 probably not going home again, but instead of flying into 0:47:05.270 --> 0:47:11.110 a rage, Achilles actually governs himself and doesn't. He then 0:47:11.110 --> 0:47:14.589 bathes the body of Hector. He says very simply to 0:47:14.630 --> 0:47:19.300 his serving women bear it aside, bathe and anoint it. 0:47:19.820 --> 0:47:24.140 He can't see his son, so all the little details 0:47:24.140 --> 0:47:27.859 at the end are crucially important. Achilles doesn't fly into 0:47:27.900 --> 0:47:30.500 a rage, for example, when home is mentioned, even though 0:47:30.500 --> 0:47:34.259 he's sure to die now in Troy. He governs himself. 0:47:35.739 --> 0:47:39.940 He thinks to of of Priam. He's very considerate. He 0:47:39.940 --> 0:47:42.339 directs his serving women to bathe the body of the 0:47:42.340 --> 0:47:46.220 dead man. Priam must not see his son this way. 0:47:48.500 --> 0:47:52.379 Achilles then lifts the body of Hector up himself and 0:47:52.380 --> 0:47:56.740 puts it on the wagon. He even goes so far 0:47:56.739 --> 0:48:02.060 as to serve the King a meal. A sentence is 0:48:02.060 --> 0:48:06.020 as simple as Achilles served. The meat suggests it. Quite 0:48:06.020 --> 0:48:11.500 a transformation has started in Achilles. And finally he tells 0:48:11.500 --> 0:48:15.379 the old man, I will hold myself back as long 0:48:15.380 --> 0:48:19.450 as you need be precise about it. How long do 0:48:19.450 --> 0:48:23.690 you need to bury your son? So what's powerful about 0:48:23.690 --> 0:48:28.250 the ending? Book 24 and all these little ways is 0:48:28.250 --> 0:48:32.089 that Achilles, the man of rage? The man who made 0:48:32.090 --> 0:48:34.129 that prayer at the beginning, the man who sent his 0:48:34.130 --> 0:48:39.170 friend to his death, the man who killed and in 0:48:39.489 --> 0:48:45.770 treated Hector's body so outrageously here, at least, begins to 0:48:45.810 --> 0:48:50.129 act differently, to change. This is the one exception, I think, 0:48:50.130 --> 0:48:55.050 in the poem. So many other characters experience a moment 0:48:55.050 --> 0:49:00.970 of truth, moment of possible change, but don't quite change. Here, 0:49:00.969 --> 0:49:09.089 Achilles freely changes. Zeus had said, I will grant him glory. 0:49:10.090 --> 0:49:15.090 Perhaps the final glory of Homer's Iliad is the beginning 0:49:15.130 --> 0:49:20.009 of Virtue in Achilles or the beginning of a new 0:49:20.010 --> 0:49:24.290 way of life. The last image we have of Achilles, actually, 0:49:24.290 --> 0:49:26.529 in the whole poem, after all of the rage, after 0:49:26.530 --> 0:49:30.730 all of the death and violence, is sleeping in his 0:49:30.730 --> 0:49:36.569 tent at peace. So that really the final wonder is Achilles. 0:49:38.450 --> 0:49:43.130 Half man, half god, Achilles haunted by death, Achilles given 0:49:43.130 --> 0:49:49.090 to rage and to outrageous prayers, experiencing peace of soul. 0:49:50.010 --> 0:49:53.090 And again, the beginning of of a new way of life. 0:49:54.250 --> 0:49:57.970 So if there's glory here at the end, it is 0:49:59.290 --> 0:50:03.569 the glory of Achilles freedom and the freedom from from 0:50:03.570 --> 0:50:07.450 his rage. So I hope you've enjoyed that overview of, 0:50:07.450 --> 0:50:10.730 of the poem. And I hope you can can sense 0:50:11.370 --> 0:50:15.570 just how worthwhile a reading experience this first and perhaps 0:50:15.680 --> 0:50:18.560 greatest of the epics really is. Thank you. 0:50:19.560 --> 0:50:22.240 Thank you for listening to this episode of the Hillsdale 0:50:22.239 --> 0:50:25.880 College Online Courses podcast. If you want to continue learning, 0:50:25.880 --> 0:50:30.760 please visit hillsdale.edu slash. There you will find over 40 0:50:30.800 --> 0:50:35.360 free online courses, including Ancient Christianity, the Genesis story, classic 0:50:35.360 --> 0:50:39.520 children's literature, and many more. The courses include additional readings, 0:50:39.520 --> 0:50:42.640 study guides, fully produced videos, and you can chat with 0:50:42.640 --> 0:50:46.200 your fellow students on a dedicated forum. Upon completing a course, 0:50:46.200 --> 0:50:48.839 you will also get a certificate. All our courses are 0:50:48.840 --> 0:50:51.640 free because we believe that what you'll learn will enrich 0:50:51.640 --> 0:50:54.160 your life, and that a virtuous citizen is the best 0:50:54.160 --> 0:50:57.760 defense for liberty. So pursue the education necessary for freedom 0:50:57.760 --> 0:51:05.759 and happiness at hillsdale.edu/today. That's hillsdale.edu/course. Thanks for listening.