COMMENTARY ON THE ILIAD: BOOK NINE, A
CRUCIAL
TURNING POINT IN THE POEM
(all quotations from the Iliad are from the
translation of
Richmond Lattimore, ©University of Chicago Press, 1951)
THE ASSEMBLY
When book nine opens, the Greeks have suffered
serious reverses. In book seven, they had to fortify their camp
with a wall. By the end of book eight,
Hektor and the Trojans were boldly encamped outside Troy, preparing
to attack the Greeks and burn their ships the next day. The
Greeks were dispirited and, as Homer described them, gripped by panic
and terror (9.1-3, 13). The stage seems set for an offer of gifts
to restore Achilleus’ honor, end his anger and allow him to return to
the fight. Zeus has honored Achilleus,
just as Thetis asked (1.508-510), by
giving strength to the Trojans and demonstrating unmistakably that the
Greeks need Achilleus. Earlier,
Athene had promised Achilleus (1.212-14) that he would eventually
receive “three times as many gifts” to compensate for Agamemnon ’s insult. In fact,
Agamemnon makes a huge offer of compensation, but Achilleus rejects
it. He refuses to return to battle, and he shocks the warriors by
the intensity of his rage. Achilleus’ replies hint at the deeper
reasons for his anger, and help to explain why it is
so longlasting, so difficult to resolve, and a worthy subject for a
great
epic.
Agamemnon calls the troops together in an
assembly, and Homer uses a simile that cleverly underlines his lack of
resolve:
“...Agamemnon stood up before them, shedding tears, like a spring
dark-running that down the face of a rock impassable drips its dim
water...
(9.13-15).”
Agamemnon’s tears are compared to a spring running down the face of a
rock, but the comparison also emphasizes, by contrast, what Agamemnon
is not: he is anything but a rock in the face of adversity.
Ironically, Agamemnon repeats the words he used earlier
(2.111-118/9.18-25) to test the soldiers by proposing to give up the
fight and return home. This time, however, he means it: Agamemnon
is ready to abandon the war
This assembly contrasts with the one in the
first book, and it shows how this fragile institution can provide a
forum for the warriors to debate decisions and reach compromises
through discussion. Diomedes stands
up to challenge Agamemnon’s proposal. “I will be the first to
fight with your folly,” he declares (9.32). At the same time, he
must be mindful of how quickly things spun out of control in the
earlier assembly once Achilleus attacked Agamemnon for demanding
compensation for Chryseis
(1.122-29). Diomedes carefully reminds Agamemnon of his right to
speak in the assembly, and, anticipating that Agamemnon will not be
pleased by his words, he urges him not to get angry (9.33).
Even this may not be enough to prevent another
deadly quarrel from breaking out, so Diomedes goes further. He
tells Agamemnon , “I was the first
of the Danaans whose valour you slighted and said I was unwarlike and
without courage.” (9.34-35) He is reminding Agamemnon of what had
happened when the truce between the Trojans and Greeks had
been broken by the wounding of Menelaos
. Agamemnon had made the rounds of the troops, rallying them to
fight (4.223-250). When he reached Diomedes and his men (4.365),
he found them unaware that the fighting had resumed, and he scolded him
(4.370) for being slow to join the battle. Although Diomedes’
friend, Sthenelos, answered sharply (4.404), Diomedes acknowledged
Agamemnon’s
right to talk tough in order to motivate them. Now, Diomedes is
asking
Agamemnon to understand that it’s his turn to talk tough to prevent him
from abandoning the war.
Diomedes certainly does have harsh words
for Agamemnon. He tells him that Zeus
gave him two kinds of gifts, “...with the sceptre he gave you honour
beyond all, but he did not give you a heart, and of all power this is
the greatest. (9.38-39)” Simply put, he is saying that Zeus made
him king, but denied him the courage to go with his rank.
Diomedes
- unlike Achilleus in the first assembly - has done his best to prevent
Agamemnon from reacting angrily, but his charge of cowardice or
weakness
is not likely to sit well with Agamemnon. Nestor
steps in before Agamemnon has a chance to respond (9.51). Nestor,
too, has learned something from the earlier assembly. There, he
waited until the quarrel had gotten out of hand: tempers had flared,
and Agamemnon and Achilleus had exchanged insults and taken public
positions from which they could not back down without loss of
face. By the time Nestor tried to mediate between Achilleus and
Agamemnon (1.254-84), it was far
too late.
Nestor uses all of his diplomatic skills
to keep Agamemnon in line, and to bring him around to making an offer
to Achilleus. He doesn’t immediately agree with Diomedes’ harsh
criticism of Agamemnon; to do so might anger him. Instead, he
first
praises Diomedes’ strength and wisdom, and, while addressing Diomedes,
he indirectly warns Agamemnon not to respond: “Not one man of all the
Achaians will belittle your words nor speak against them.
(9.55-56)”
He also indicates that more needs to be said, the first hint that they
must somehow settle the quarrel and bring Achilleus back. It will
be Nestor’s job to persuade Agamemnon of this, and he begins by
establishing
his own credentials - his age and wisdom. He does so first, by
comparing
himself with the younger Diomedes. Only then does he name
Agamemnon,
“...there is none who can dishonour the thing I say, not even powerful
Agamemnon. (9.61-62).”
Once Nestor mentions Agamemnon, we might
expect him to propose some resolution to the quarrel, but he is more
cautious
than that. He merely warns of the dangers of quarrelling, “Out of
all brotherhood, outlawed, homeless shall be that man who longs for the
horror of fighting among his own people. (9.63-64).” In part,
Nestor
is trying to head off any new quarrel at this assembly. More
important, he is reminding them of the terrible consequences of the
quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilleus. He suggests that they
break up the assembly and have dinner, while the sentries take up
positions on the ramparts
surrounding the camp. This simple piece of advice is a stark
reminder
of their dire situation: it is only because of Achilleus’ absence that
the Greeks have been forced to defend their own camp with hastily built
walls.
AGAMEMNON’S OFFER
TO ACHILLEUS
When Nestor
finally addresses Agamemnon
directly, he does not raise the prickly issue of Achilleus.
Instead, he tells Agamemnon to organize a banquet for the other
leaders:
“...son of Atreus, take command, since you are our kingliest.
Divide a feast among the princes; it befits you, it is not
unbecoming...All hospitality is for you; you are lord over many.
(9.69-73)”
It may seem odd that Nestor suggests that Agamemnon host a banquet on a
night that he describes ominously as the one “ that will break our
army, or else will preserve it. (9.78).” In fact, this is a
clever way for Nestor to create a setting in which Agamemnon may be
willing to reach
a settlement with Achilleus. First, it removes the discussion
from
the public assembly of all the warriors to the smaller, more private
council
of the chiefs, and it allows time for tempers to cool after Diomedes ’ initial speech.
Secondly, it restores Agamemnon to command. Ultimately, Agamemnon
will have to make the offer to Achilleus, and,
to do so, he is going to have to get hold of himself and take the lead
again. Finally, Nestor is reminding Agamemnon that hosting a
banquet
is part of his power and authority as leader of the expedition and as
the
wealthiest of the Greek rulers. By entertaining the other chiefs
with food and wine, Agamemnon displays his power and uses his wealth to
reinforce his authority. This is a subtle way of hinting to
Agamemnon
that he has the wealth and power to make an offer to Achilleus that
will
not diminish his stature, but actually enhance it. This offer
will
show that only Agamemnon is powerful enough to do what needs to be done
to rescue the Greeks.
Once the banquet ends, Nestor finally tackles
the difficult task of proposing to Agamemnon that they act to end his
quarrel with Achilleus. It isn’t easy. Nestor is always
long-winded, but his opening words seem particularly roundabout.
He praises Agamemnon, acknowledges his authority, hints that he must
listen as well...and,
finally, he spits it out and reminds him that, against his advice, he
had dishonored Achileus by taking Briseis
(9.96-109). Only indirectly does he refer to the consequences of
this by saying that Agamemnon “dishonoured a great man, one whom the
immortals honour (9.110-111).” With this, Nestor acknowledges
that the defeat of the Greeks on the battlefield was a way for the gods
to honor Achilleus. Even now, though, Nestor does not presume to
tell Agamemnon what to do, unlike Achilleus in the first
assembly. Instead, he makes it a collective responsibility.
“Let us,” he says, “even now think how we can make this
good and persuade him with words of supplication and with the gifts of
friendship (9.111-13).”
Agamemnon accepts Nestor’s judgment. He
recognizes Achilleus’ worth, concedes that Zeus has honored him, and
admits that they have suffered badly on the battlefield
(9.116-18). Nonetheless, he remains evasive about his own
responsibility for what happened. Earlier (2.377-78) he had
acknowledged that he was “the first to be angry” when they quarreled
“for a girl’s sake.” Here, though, he merely refers to his
“madness” (9.115, 119), and it is this that leads him to propose an
offer of gifts to Achilleus.
Agamemnon’s offer is certainly impressive and
it extends for nearly forty lines (9.121-156). What’s more,
Nestor - the voice of wisdom - puts his seal of approval on it by
asserting that “none could scorn any longer these gifts you offer to
Achilleus the king (9.164-65).” Nonetheless, Achilleus will
reject it, and we can begin to understand why by looking closely at the
offer itself. The huge offer is divided into three parts: think
of it as large downpayment and an installment plan! First,
Agamemnon is ready to give gifts now
(9.121-135) and to return Briseis, whom he swears he never slept
with. Secondly, Agamemnon promises Achilleus even more spoils
when they sack Troy (9.135-140). Finally, when they return home,
Agamemnon will offer Achilleus a marriage to one of his own daughters,
accompanied by a
splendid dowry of seven castles (9.141-156).
Is the package just too large? It seems
to emphasize how much wealth Agamemnon has, since he can afford to give
so much of it away. When, for example, he offers twelve
racehorses (9.123), he can’t resist commenting on how much wealth those
horses have won for him (9.124-27). Next, he adds “seven women of
Lesbos” to the offer, but, as he admits, he took these women when
Achilleus “captured strong-founded Lesbos”. That simply confirms
Achilleus’ original complaint (1.163-68): Achilleus fights the hardest,
but Agamemnon takes the best of the spoils. In fact, coming so
soon after Agamemnon’s fond description of his prize-winning horses,
this description of the women of Lesbos makes one wonder if Agamemnon
doesn’t regard warriors like Achilleus as just so many racehorses
winning him prizes.
The final installment of the offer underscores
Agamemnon’s authority. He will arrange a marriage for Achilleus
to one of his daughters. Would Achilleus wish to have Agamemnon
as
a father-in-law? Would he wish to rule over seven castles once
under
Agamemnon’s authority? There can be little doubt that Agamemnon
sees
his offer as affirming his own wealth and power, for he concludes by
urging
that Achilleus give up his anger, declaring:
“Let him give way...And let him yield place to me, inasmuch as I am the
kinglier and inasmuch as I can call myself born the elder
(9.160-61).” Significantly, when Odysseus presents Agamemnon’s
offer - word for word (9.264-299) - to Achilleus, he will be shrewd
enough to leave out those
lines.
THE AMBASSADORS
AND THEIR APPEALS
Nestor proposes the three men - the
“ambassadors” - to convey Agamemnon’s offer to Achilleus, and he
chooses them
carefully (9.165-70). First, he names Phoinix, Achilleus’ tutor,
whose personal ties to Achilleus will allow him to speak as a surrogate
father, and make a deeply personal appeal based on his role as a mentor
to Achilleus. Secondly, he adds Aias
, the greatest of the warriors - after Achilleus, for he can speak as a
soldier, on behalf of the troops. Finally, he completes the group
with Odysseus whose reputation for
wisdom and skillful speech suggests that he
may be the most persuasive of the men. All three are men whom
Achilleus loves and respects, as his greeting makes clear (9.196-97):
“Welcome. You are my friends who have come, and greatly I need
you, who even to
this my anger are dearest of all the Achaians.” When he asks his
friend, Patroklos, to set out drinks for the men, he describes them as
“the men that I love best.” Despite his anger, Achilleus is glad
to
see his friends...until he learns what they have to say.
Odysseus speaks first. He does not
begin with Agamemnon’s offer. Instead, he describes the desperate
situation the Greeks face (9.230-43), tempts Achilleus with his account
of Hektor ’s pride, and urges him to
act immediately before it is too late (9.247-51). He reminds
Achilleus of how his father, Peleus, advised him to hold down his anger
and avoid quarrels (9.252-59). Only then does Odysseus
recite Agamemnon’s offer which he characterizes as “worthy recompense”
(9.261). Of course, he leaves out Agamemnon’s concluding words
that
Achilleus should give way to him. Instead, he seems to concede
that
Achilleus’ hatred for Agamemnon may lead him to reject the gifts, and
he
repeats his earlier appeal for Achilleus to pity the other Achaians:
“But if the son of Atreus is too much hated in your heart, himself and
his gifts, at least take pity on all the other Achaians who are
afflicted along the host... (9. 300-01)
He promises Achilleus the honor of the other Achaians, and he dangles
Hektor before him as a prize that would guarantee his honor (9.302-06)
Odysseus’ references to Peleus’ advice to
Achilleus prepare the way for the speech of Achilleus’ tutor,
Phoinix. Phoinix’s deeply personal appeal tries to touch
Achilleus’ heart with tender
memories of his childhood (9. 485-95) and his own role as a kind of
surrogate
father to Achilleus. The centerpiece of his speech is the long
story
of Meleagros (9.529-99) and the war between the Aitolians and the
Kouretes.
In keeping with his role as a mentor or guardian of Achilleus, he
offers
this story to provide instruction, citing the behavior of the heroes of
old
as a model for the younger warrior:
“Thus it was in the old days also, the deeds that we hear of from
the great men...The heroes would take gifts; they would listen, and be
persuaded (9.524-26).”
As Phoinix tells it, the story of Meleagros is
a complex one. The goddess of the hunt, Artemis, became angry
with Meleagros’ father, Oineus, who neglected to offer her a proper
sacrifice (9.532-36). As a result, Artemis sent a wild boar to
devastate the fields and orchards of Oineus (9.538-42).
Meleagros, Oineus’ son, assembled many men to join the Aitolians in
hunting the boar (9.543-46), and he succeeded in killing it
(9.543). Artemis, though, wasn’t finished with the
Aitolians. She stirred up a quarrel between the Aitolians and the
Kouretes over the prize of the boar’s head and hide (9.545-47), and the
Kouretes besieged Kalydon, the city of the Aitolians. While
Meleagros led the Aitolians, they had the edge (9.549-52), but, like
Achilleus in the Iliad, he withdrew from the battle because of a
quarrel. He quarreled with his mother, Althaia, over the death of
her brother, one of
the Kouretes whom he had killed. The elders of Kalydon, his
father, his mother, his sisters and, finally, his friends all appealed
unsuccessfully to him to return to the fight. At last, he was
persuaded by a desperate plea from his wife. He rescued the
Aitolians, but they were no longer willing to give him the gifts they
had offered earlier.
Achilleus is not persuaded by the example, and
maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Phoinix began the
story by suggesting that the heroes of old would provide models for
Achilleus to follow, because they “would take gifts...would listen, and
be persuaded.” Meleagros, however, did nothing of the sort.
He rejected the gifts and entreaties until it was almost too
late. In fact, the story of Meleagros and Phoinix’s whole speech
are riddled with ironies and contradictions that undermine his point by
showing how widespread anger is, and how difficult quarrels are to
resolve. Phoinix, himself, had a terrible quarrel with his
father, because his mother persuaded him to sleep with his father’s
young mistress (9.449-54), and the story of Meleagros is full of
examples of human and divine anger. There is even irony in
Phoinix’s effort to persuade Achilleus to follow the example of the
gods who listen to prayers (9.496-501), for Zeus has listened to
Achilleus’ prayer to make the Greeks suffer from his absence.
Achilleus dismisses Phoinix’s appeal, and, in
response, Aias makes the last speech. It is the short and direct
speech of a soldier who represents the troops. He calls Achilleus
“savage” and “pitiless” (9. 629, 632) for ignoring the plight of his
friends and forgetting their affection, and he reminds Achilleus that
it is established practice to accept compensation to settle disputes.
After Achilleus rejects this plea as well, Odysseus conveys his message
to Agamemnon and the assembled chiefs in no uncertain terms: “That man
will not quench his anger, but still more than ever is filled with
rage. He refuses you and refuses your presents. (9. 678-79).”
ACHILLEUS REJECTS
THE OFFER
It would be a mistake, though, to conclude -
with Odysseus - that the speakers have had no effect on
Achilleus. In fact, he changed his plans after each speech,
gradually softening his position. After his long raging reply to
Odysseus, he ended by asking Phoinix to stay the night “so that
tomorrow he may come with us in our ships to the beloved land of our
fathers, if he will (9. 427-29).” In short, he was ready to leave
the next day. After Phoinix’ speech, Achilleus seemed less
certain. Again, he asked Phoinix to stay, but he said that “we
shall decide tomorrow, as dawn shows, whether to go back home again or
else to remain here. (9.618-19).” Finally, once Aias spoke,
Achilleus abandoned his plans to leave entirely. Instead, he
says,
“I shall not think again of the bloody fighting until...Hektor the
brilliant,
comes all the way to the ships of the Myrmidons (Achilleus’ own men)
(9.
650-52).” Apparently, Achilleus has decided to stay at Troy, he
simply
won’t fight...yet.
What explains the changes in Achilleus’
plans? With each response, he shifted his view of honor
itself. In his
reply to Odysseus, he dramatically rejected honor altogether, and it
was
this shocking stand that, momentarily, left them “stricken to silence
in
amazement at his words (9.430-31).” After Phoinix’s speech, he
concedes
the importance of honor, but he spurns the honor that Agamemnon and
the
Achaians can offer. Instead, he is content to be honored by Zeus
(9.607-08). Finally, when Aias argues for the value of
compensation,
Achilleus has come around to agree with him, “All that you have said
seems
spoken after my own mind.” Still, he is simply unable to control
his
anger at Agamemnon.
What is most radical - and most important - is
Achilleus’ first reply in which he questions the value of honor
itself. What he is challenging is the heroic value system that
considers honor
an adequate price for one’s life:
“Fate is the same for the man who holds back, the same if he fights
hard.
We are all held in a single honour, the brave with the weaklings.
A man dies still if he has done nothing, as one who has done much.
(9.318-20)”
Here, he links honor with his life, but he makes this clearer in
the crucial passage where he reveals the two fates that his mother has
disclosed to him:
“...For not
worth the value of my life are all the possessions they fable
were won for Ilion...
...Of possessions
cattle and fat sheep are things to be had for the lifting,
and tripods can be won, and the tawny high heads of horses,
but a man’s life cannot come back again, it cannot be lifted
nor captured again by force, once it has crossed the teeth’s barrier.
For my mother Thetis the goddess of the silver feet tells me
I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either,
if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans,
my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting;
but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers,
the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life
left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly. (9.
400-02, 405-16)”
For a moment at least, Achilleus is contemplating the choice of a
long life without honor, instead of the honor that, for mortals, is a
compensation for a short life. What is he really seeking
though?
Is this his way of striving towards the immortality that he believes is
his due as the son of a goddess? Although Achilleus seems to put
aside
this choice once he decides to remain at Troy, his comments about his
two
fates do provide an important clue as to what is driving his
anger.
He is not merely raging against Agamemnon and questioning his place in
the
Greek hierarchy and the way honor is given out; he is asking why, as
the
son of a goddess and the greatest warrior, he should not be able to
enjoy
something more than honor, to be immortal and, by definition, like the
gods.
SARPEDON AND THE
HEROIC CODE
The most powerful - and poignant - reply to
Achilleus comes in the words of another mortal with a divine parent, Sarpedon , the son of Zeus . In the heat of battle, he
rallies his companion, Glaukos , with
a clear statement of the heroic ideal. First, he reminds him of
the status, wealth and honor they enjoy, and exhorts him to fight
bravely to show their followers that they deserve these honors:
“‘Glaukos, why is it you and I are honoured before others
with pride of place, the choice meats and the filled wine cups
in Lykia, and all men look on us as if we were immortals,
and we are appointed a great piece of land by the banks of Xanthos,
good land, orchard and vineyard, and ploughland for the planting of
wheat?
Therefore it is our duty in the forefront of the Lykians
to take our stand, and bear our part of the blazing of battle,
so that a man of the close-armoured Lykians may say of us:
‘Indeed, these are no ignoble men who are lords of Lykia,
these kings of ours, who feed upon the fat sheep appointed
and drink the exquisite sweet wine, since indeed there is strength
of valour in them, since they fight in the forefront of the Lykians.’
(12.310-21)”
It makes an attractive contrast with the earlier demands of Agamemnon for compensation, or the
complaints of Achilleus about unfair treatment. Here, Sarpedon
emphasizes the constant need for the warriors to demonstrate that they
merit their positions. What follows, though, lifts Sarpedon’s
thoughts from the realm of status among men to the existential question
of mortality. Sarpedon allows himself a fleeting glimpse of
immortality and dismisses it as impossible:
“Man, supposing you and I, escaping this battle,
would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal,
so neither would I myself go on fighting in the foremost
nor would I urge you into the fighting where men win glory.
But now, seeing that the spirits of death stand close about us
in their thousands, no man can turn aside nor escape them,
let us go on and win glory for ourselves, or yield it to others.
(12.322-28)”
In short, if he could live forever, he would not risk his life for
glory. Given that he is mortal, however, the highest thing he can
aspire to is a life with glory, and his choice gains particular
poignancy when he is later slain by Patroklos
before the eyes of his immortal father, Zeus. For his part,
Achilleus struggles against this acceptance of honor as a compensation
for mortality, and it is this struggle that helps to explain the
intensity of his anger in the last part of the poem as he rages across
the battlefield to avenge his friend’s death and make his own
inevitable.