Nature We Obey, Homer’s Iliad, Book II
“The immortals slumbered on their thrones above;
All but the ever-wakeful eyes of Jove.
To honour Thetis' son he bends his care,
And plunge the Greeks in all the woes of war:
Then bids an empty phantom rise to sight,
And thus commands the vision of the night:
‘Fly hence, deluding Dream! and, light as air,
To Agamemnon's ample tent repair.
Bid him in arms draw forth the embattled train,
Lead all his Grecians to the dusty plain.
Declare; e’en now 'tis given him to destroy
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy ;’” -Homer
Odin is known to us as a God with a dark nature. He is concerned with averting Ragnarok and will do whatever it takes to stop its coming. He is known to be a God of untrustworthy dealings. Beware dealing with such a God, he might lead you to an untimely end so that he can recruit you for Ragnarok. Many like to create links between the different Aryan religions, the most interesting of which is the idea that Odin IS an older, defeated Zeus, and Book II begins with evidence of this connection. All gods and men sleep, but Zeus Almighty who nodded his head to Thetis. It is here where he reveals himself to be deceiver we see in Odin.
Zeus sends an empty phantom to give the sleeping King Agamemnon a prophetic dream. A dream where Nestor, wise in council, instructs him to sack the city of Troy. The time is now. Is this evidence of Zeus as the Odinic spell-weaver we come to know from the Allfather in the Germanic religion? In Book I, I gave evidence of how Zeus also resembled the Christian God in his ordering of Heaven and greater power than all the other Gods. Why talk about these things? They ARE connected. They DO matter. It is a point of the Warrior Religion project to show them. Throughout history, almost every religion found themselves loved by God and what brought them to prominence was their ability to find the Golden Path. You start to realize that maybe these religions didn’t have everything right, but they had a piece of the puzzle.
This brings us back to Agamemnon who is awoken in the night with this dream and is moved into action. He sends for the other chiefs to convene a war council. Now, Agamemnon gets a bad rap thanks to the recent Troy movie with Brad Pitt. He’s portrayed as a fat tyrant who does nothing. This is terribly inaccurate. I would argue that our warriors today fighting for the US government would rather fight for Agamemnon than any of the leaders we have right now. My fren, Lance Legion, argues that Agamemnon is the REAL hero of the Iliad. What do you think about this idea?
“‘Haste, then, for ever leave the Trojan wall!
Our weeping wives, our tender children call:
Love, duty, safety, summon us away,
'Tis nature's voice, and nature we obey.
Our shattered barks may yet transport us o'er,
Safe and inglorious, to our native shore.
My, Grecians, by your sails and oars employ,’” -Agamemnon, Homer
Agamemnon convenes his war council and they come to an agreement that they must march on Troy. The time is now! And this is where you get a glimpse of Agamemnon’s “noble excellence.” You will see later on that while he doesn’t put the army on his back like Achilles can do, he is a very effective king. He knows how to motivate his men and he fights on the front with the other heroes. He gathers the Greks and instead of telling them about this prophetic dream he received from Zeus, he wails and says it is time to go home. They can’t beat the Trojans.
This tactic by Agamemnon is brilliant. It shows that he knows how he is perceived by his army and he knows how to motivate them. He knows he isn’t the soul of the army so he sets the stage for the true motivators of the army to whip them into shape. The army accepts what the king of kings has to say and begins to march back to their ships to prepare for the return home. This is where the heroes, respected by the army, are compelled to step in. Odysseus asks the Greks if they will truly accept infamy and defeat after nine years of war. The trap is set.
I mentioned in Book I that you will see Homer attack the ugly and deformed, again and again. Anything bad will be presented as ugly as possible. A soldier, Thersites, tries to attack Odysseus and argue that it IS time to go home. Here is how Homer describes the man:
“Thersites only clamoured in the throng,
Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue :
Awed by no shame, by no respect controlled,
In scandal busy, in reproaches bold ;
With witty malice, studious to defame,
Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim.
But chief he gloried with licentious style
To lash the great, and monarchs to revile.
His figure such as might his soul proclaim :
One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame:
His mountain-shoulders half his breast o'erspread ;
Thin hairs bestrewed his long misshapen head.
Spleen to mankind his envious heart possessed,
And much he hated all, but most the best.
Ulysses or Achilles still his theme;
But royal scandal his delight supreme.” -Homer
“Fierce from his seat, at this, Ulysses springs,
In generous vengeance of the king of kings.
With indignation sparkling in his eyes,
He views the wretch, and sternly thus replies:” -Homer
Haha, why do you think Homer goes out of his way to show these ugly deformed types as bad and cowardly? Odysseus goes on to knock the ugly man out with his scepter. The army approves of this. This Thersites is universally disliked. But I imagine in a modern “mob,” this man would be considered a hero? After Odysseus makes fun of the wretch, Nestor takes over. Notice how Agamemnon leans on these two great men to get the army ready for war?
“‘Among those counsels, let not mine be vain;
In tribes and nations to divide thy train :
His separate troops let every leader call,
Each strengthen each, and all encourage all.
What chief, or soldier, of the numerous band,
Or bravely fights, or ill obeys command,
When thus distinct they war, shall soon be known,
And what the cause of Ilion not o'erthrown ;
If fate resists, or if our arms are slow,
If gods above prevent, or men below.’” -Nestor, Homer
This counsel of Nestor has always stuck out to me. When the Greks need their army to perform its best, what do they do? They organize it by tribes and nations. It’s easy enough to act as the coward or to let the man next to you die if you do not know them. They are not of your race and tribe, but if you’re forced to fight next to your kin, you will fight harder. You’re fighting for you and yours. To show yourself a coward before your own kin would be seen as great shame.
What follows is the army getting ready for battle. Athena comes down from heaven to fill the hearts of the Greks with the desire for victory. She makes them want victory more than returning home from the land of their fathers. Book II concludes with the famous catalog of ships and the marching of the army before the walls of Troy.
“Now, like a deluge, covering all around,
The shining armies swept along the ground ;
Swift as a flood of fire, when storms arise,
Floats the wide field, and blazes to the skies.
Earth groaned beneath them; as when angry Jove
Hurls down the forky lightning from above,
On Arimé when he the thunder throws,
And fires Typhœus with redoubled blows,
Where Typhon, pressed beneath the burning load,
Still feels the fury of the avenging god.” -Homer