And All Is Blood And Rage, Homer’s Iliad Book IV

Book IV is the beginning of the first battle of the Iliad, but before we get to the fighting, we get the comedic element of Zeus setting off his wife, perhaps for fun, perhaps to set into motion FATE. The gods are portrayed as more human than human and it shows no better than in the dynamics between Zeus and Hera. Moderns may call what they have an “abusive relationship.” But rest assured, Hera is always in the wrong and deserves what Zeus does to her(lmao).

“‘ Two powers divine the son of Atreus aid,

Imperial Juno, and the martial Maid :

But high in heaven they sit, and gaze from far,

The tame spectators of his deeds of war.

Not thus fair Venus helps her favoured knight;

The queen of pleasures shares the toils of fight,

Each danger wards, and, constant in her care,

Saves in the moment of the last despair.

Her act has rescued Paris' forfeit life,

Then say, ye Powers! what signal issue waits

To crown this deed, and finish all the Fates?

Shall heaven by peace the bleeding kingdoms spare,

Or rouse the Furies, and awake the war?

Yet, would the gods for human good provide,

Atrides soon might gain his beauteous bride,

Still Priam's walls in peaceful honours grow,

And through his gates the crowding nations flow.’

Thus while he spoke, the queen of heaven, enraged,” -Jove, Homer

This is the first time I’ve heard of Pallas Athena referred to as the “Martial Maid.” I want to make a woman kitchen joke but I’m afraid Athena will hunt me down for this. Hera goes off about how much she wants to burn Troy to the ground, in which we get a little revelation that Troy means much to the Sky Father who threatens to take one of Hera’s three sacred cities as recompense. He sends forth Athena to break the truce between the Greks and Trojans. This is very cool way to describe the coming of the gods to the battle, please read:

“The advice approved, and bade Minerva fly,

Dissolve the league, and all her arts employ

To make the breach the faithless act of Troy.

Fired with the charge, she headlong urged her flight

And shot like lightning from Olympus' height.

As the red comet, from Saturnius sent

To fright the nations with a dire portent,

A fatal sign to armies on the plain,

Or trembling sailors on the wintry main,

With sweeping glories glides along in air,

And shakes the sparkles from its blazing hair;

Between both armies thus, in open sight,

Shot the bright goddess in a trail of light.” -Homer

The coming of Athena created PANIC on the battlefield. She gets a Trojan to let loose an arrow at Menelaus to start the battle, but makes sure the arrow doesn’t kill the Spartan king. One important note is how Chiron gets name dropped. Chiron is very interesting figure to me. I did not know the importance he had in training Grek heroes until I read Alamariu’s Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy. He was the trainer of the man summoned to tend to Menelaus’s wound. All the great heroes like Achilles were trained by Chiron in the wilderness. You must submit to his teachings!

What comes next is more evidence that Agamemnon, with his flaws, is STILL a more superior leader than anyone we have today. Knowing that his brother is in good hands, he begins to rally the Greks to fight. He knows how to motivate his chiefs. Some he encourages, others he chastises or shames. There are two great interactions you should read. The first is with the old Nestor who Agamemnon comes upon already doing what he’s supposed to be doing, showing powerful discipline and giving his warriors sage advice:

“Enclosed by both, nor left the power to fly :

He gives command to curb the fiery steed,

Nor cause confusion, nor the ranks exceed;

‘ Before the rest let none too rashly ride;

No strength nor skill, but just in time, be tried :

The charge once made, no warrior turn the rein,

But fight, or fall; a firm, embodied train.

He whom the fortune of the field shall cast

From forth his chariot, mount the next in haste ;

Nor seek unpractised to direct the car,

Content with javelins to provoke the war.

Our great forefathers held this prudent course,

Thus ruled their ardour, thus preserved their force,

By laws like these immortal conquests made,’

So spoke the master of the martial art,

And touched with transport great Atrides' heart.” -Nestor, Homer

Nestor shows himself a “master of the martial art.” He is the oldest and wisest of the Trojans. Seeing this man lead his warriors into battle moves the heart of Agamemnon who gives him great praise. Listen also to what Nestor has to say to the king of kings:

“‘That strength which once in boiling youth I knew;

Such as I was, when Brethalion stain

Beneath this arm fell prostrate on the plain.

But heaven its gifts not all at once bestows,

These years with wisdom crowns, with action those :

The field of combat fits the young and bold,

The solemn council best becomes the old :

To you the glorious conflict I resign,

Let sage advice, the palm of age, be mine.’” -Nestor, Homer

Nestor giving life lessons in the middle of a war. Not all at once does heaven give you all its gifts. Some come later than you wished. You will contrast this with how Agamemnon whips Diomedes into action. May I suggest that his shaming of Diomedes, as LESS THAN his powerful father, inspires the warrior to his moment of ARISTEIA which will see in the next book? Here is how Diomedes and his brother respond to Agamemnon’s shaming:

“No words the godlike Diomed returned,

But heard respectful, and in secret burned:

Not so fierce Capaneus' undaunted son;

Stern as his sire, the boaster thus begun:

‘ What needs, O monarch, this invidious praise,

Ourselves to lessen, while our sires you raise ?

Dare to be just, Atrides! and confess

Our valour equal, though our fury less.

With fewer troops we stormed the Theban wall,

And, happier, saw the sevenfold city fall.

In impious acts the guilty fathers died ;

The sons subdued, for heaven was on their side.

Far more than heirs of all our parents' fame,

Our glories darken their diminished name.’” -Homer

The battle begins in Book IV and it is a powerful spectacle put on by Homer. All the gods join in the fray. On the one side, there is Apollo and Mars, on the other, Athena. Further, Discord, the “dreaded sister of Power,” takes the field. This following passage is long, but beautiful and worth your time.

“In wealthy folds, and wait the milker's hand,

The hollow vales incessant bleating fills,

The lambs reply from all the neighbouring hills :

Such clamours rose from various nations round,

Mixed was the murmur, and confused the sound.

Each host now joins, and each a god inspires,

These Mars incites, and those Minerva fires.

Pale Flight around, and dreadful Terror reign ;

And Discord raging bathes the purple plain :

Discord! dire sister of the slaughtering Power,

Small at her birth, but rising every hour ;

While scarce the skies her horrid head can bound,

She stalks on earth, and shakes the world around ;

The nations bleed, where'er her steps she turns;

The groan still deepens, and the combat burns.

Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet closed,

To armour armour, lance to lance opposed,

Host against host with shadowy squadrons drew,

The sounding darts in iron tempests flew.

Victors and vanquished join promiscuous cries,

And shrilling shouts and dying groans arise;

With streaming blood the slippery fields are dyed,

And slaughtered heroes swell the dreadful tide.” -Homer

Homer leaves you with vivid detail of the battle at hand. It’s very beautiful imagery. The passage above puts you on some hill overlooking the battlefield where you can see gods and men tearing each other apart. But not only can Homer give you this bird’s eye view, he can put you into the fray where you see man slay man.

“So sinks a tower that long assaults had stood

Of force and fire, its walls besmeared with blood.

Him, the bold leader of the Abantian throng

Seized to despoil, and dragged the corpse along:

But, while he strove to tug the inserted dart,

Agenor's javelin reached the hero's heart.

His flank, unguarded by his ample shield,

Admits the lance: he falls, and spurns the field;

The nerves unbraced support his limbs no more ;

The soul comes floating in a tide of gore.

Trojans and Greeks now gather round the slain ;

The war renews, the warriors bleed again;

As o'er their prey rapacious wolves engage,

Man dies on man, and all is blood and rage.” -Homer

The battle intensifies when Apollo takes the field and tells the Trojans that the man they dread most of all, Achilles, is not fighting anymore. Take some time to digest these powerful battle scenes given to us by Homer. It moves the soul.