TFBT: Random Notes for 3CB22.1x

Iliad 9:115 And the lord of men, Agamemnon, answered, "You have reproved my derangement (ate) justly. I was wrong. I own it. " and also "But Zeus of the aegis the son of Kronos afflicts me with bootless wranglings and strife. Achilles and I are quarrelling about this girl, in which matter I was the first to offend; (Iliad 2.376)  but later when Achilles is present Agamemnon can’t bring himself to say it again or be so gracious at Iliad 16: 919 “But I am not responsible. No, those who are really responsible are Zeus and Fate and the Fury  who roams in the mist. They are the ones who, at the public assembly, had put savage derangement [atē] into my thinking on that day when I myself deprived Achilles of his honorific portion.  But what could I do? “

Suicide watch? “I could not bear to stay in my father’s house with him so bitter against me. My cousins and clansmen came about me,  and pressed me sorely to remain; many a sheep and many an ox did they slaughter, and many a fat hog did they set down to roast before the fire; many a jar, too, did they broach of my father’s wine. Nine whole nights did they set a guard over me taking turns to watch, and they kept a fire always burning, both in the cloister of the outer court and in the inner court at the doors of the room wherein I lay; but when the darkness of the tenth night came,  I broke through the closed doors of my room, and climbed the wall of the outer court after passing quickly and unperceived through the men on guard and the women servants. I then fled.”  Iliad 9: 464

Just writing I find beautiful; “Thus [Agamemnon] spoke. And the son of Peleus  felt grief and the heart within his shaggy chest was divided whether to draw the sharp sword at his thigh and make the others get up and scatter while he kills the son of Atreus or whether to check his anger and restrain his heart”.  Iliad 1:188-192

3CB22.1 Lenny Muellner: “There's another one that's more complex to unpack. But in the expression "same as a maenad," mainadi isē, which itself is a play on another, as one of the members of our board of readers, Sean Signore, has shown, it’s a play on another expression which you apply to heroes at the climax of their valor— daimon isos”  I believe I saw “mainadi ise” written as “maindais”.  I hope to find Signore’s comments.  “Daimon isos”; godlike is often used of heroes about to meet their end (telos).  I believe the topic at hand when Muellner shared the quote was Andromache fainting away at the sight of Hector’s corpse.  I’ll be looking for similar examples elsewhere.

Halo?  “Zeus seated on topmost (Mt.)Gargaros with a fragrant cloud encircling his head as with a diadem." Iliad 15: 153

“Had he (Poseidon)  not done so those gods who are below with Kronos would have come to hear of the fight between us” . Iliad 15:224  Is this the first hint in Greek literature that the Titans though bound in Tartarus could revolt?  In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo Hera slaps the Earth and prays, “‘Hear now, I pray, Gaia (Earth) and wide Ouranos (Sky) above, and you Titans   who dwell beneath the earth about great Tartarus”. How uneasy rest the crown upon Olympus!

Good proverb, “A man does well to listen to the advice of a friend.” Iliad15:404 

A moving speech; If any of you is struck by spear or sword and loses his life, let him die; he dies with honor who dies fighting for his country; and he will leave his wife and children safe behind him, with his house and allotment unplundered  Iliad 15:495

“the unrighteous prayer that Thetis had made of him, Zeus” (Iliad 15:599)  These are Homer’s word spoken as the narrator.  I find them surprisingly judgmental for a poet so famously non-judgmental.  I’ll have to think on this.   

  This is Achilles speaking to that compulsive liar Odysseus.  This one of the thing I find likable about the son of Peleus.  "As hateful to me as the gates of Hades is on who says on e thing while he hides another in his heart; therefore I will say what I mean.”  Iliad 9:313