Deities Fight Each Other
From Iliad Book XXI
The gods have taken sides, and in this book, begin to fight not just for one side or the other, but directly against each other.
It starts when Achilles angers the river god, Skamander with his reckless slaughter of Trojans. He first piques the river god’s anger when he not only refuses to take Lykaon captive, but even throws him back in the river, so his mother won’t be able to mourn him properly.
All Mortals Must Die
Achilles has forced half of the fleeing Trojans into the Skamander river, and is slaughtering them left and right, names not even being mentioned. He takes twelve young men captive, to be killed as an offering on the funeral pyre of Patroclos, and sends them back to the ships with some of his men. Then he runs into another son of Priam, Lykaon.
Earlier in the war, Achilles had captured him in a raid, and sold him into slavery. Being a son of Priam, of course, he eventually was ransomed and made it back to Troy, enjoying eleven days of freedom before coming across Achilles again, on the twelfth. He has no armor or weapon, having dropped everything trying to make his way out of the river. So he makes the usual plea for mercy, based on his rank and the certainty of another high payoff for Achilles.
But this time, it doesn’t work.
As the young man falls on his knees to grab Achilles’ knees and beg for his life, Achilles has already thrown his spear. It passes over his back and thuds firmly into the ground close by. Lykaon puts his left hand on the spear that has just missed him, and his right on one of Achilles’ knees.
He tries to ingratiate himself by praising Patroclos, and pointing out that he and Hektor have different mothers.
don’t kill me, since the belly where I grew never held Hektor, never held the man who kill your friend, that gentle and strong soldier. -- Translated by Robert Fitzgerald
Achilles’ answer is direct and brutal.
Die Must We All
(Inspired by / paraphrase of lines 116 - 131 of Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of Book 21 of the Iliad.)
Patroclos is dead.
It used to be I took Trojans in job-lots
and shipped them out
for ransom or whatever fate awaited.
No more.
He, much the better man, is dead.
You live.
So die shall you also, my friend.
Why the fuss?
Die must we all.
Patroclos Menoitiades,
Lykaon of Priam,
Achilles Peleides.
Look at me:
A giant among men, born of a goddess.
I, too, shall die.
-- maryh10000Lykaon sinks down over his knees. He spreads out his arms, releasing them from the spear and from Achilles’ knee. Achilles deals the death blow, his sword going into Lykaon’s neck to the hilt, and Lykaon is spread out, face down.
But it is not enough just to kill him. He grabs a foot, turns, and swings him into the river. There must be no funeral pyre. Lykaon must be food for eels and fish, not fire.
Skamander Draws the Gods to Fight
After that, Achilles fighting, having a real combat with the leader of the Paionians, and then slicing through the fleeing company when he falls.
That’s enough. Skamander speaks. “Let be, marshal of soldiers.” – Robert Fitzgerald.1
But Achilles won’t stop killing Trojans in the river. Skamander complains. Apollo, who is supposed to be on the Trojan side, should be doing something. Nothing happens.
So Skamander himself starts fighting Achilles directly. This wears Achilles down, and he calls on Zeus. He’s supposed to die a hero’s death, not drown like a boy pig-keeper caught in a torrent crossing a river. Yes, that’s a nod to Taran, the assistant pig-keeper in The Chronicles of Prydain. And the Greek term really does mean a boy who is a swineherd (παῖδα συφορβόν). I wonder whether Lloyd Alexander was influenced by this part of line 282 of Book 21 of the Iliad.
Athena and Poseidon show up to give Achilles the energy to get out of the river onto the plain. But Skamander tries with one more big wave, so Hera calls her son, Hephaistos, to intervene. Hephaistos fights water with fire and wins. Skamander gives up.
Meanwhile, Zeus is laughing to see the gods fighting each other. And it isn’t over yet.
Ares, leading the team for the Trojans, now attacks Athena directly. But his bronze spear can’t get through her storm-cloud shield (aegis), which even the lightning bolts of Zeus can’t pierce. She recoils at the hit, then picks up a massive boundary stone and hits him in the neck with it. His knees give way, and he goes down on 700 ft of earth. [I don’t know whether this means Ares is 700 ft tall, or whether he covers that much ground before he comes to rest after his fall.] Naturally, he’s not dead, just stunned, and needs to catch his breath.
Aphrodite comes to help him get up, so Hera calls Athena again, and she punches Aphrodite in the breast with her fist. So now, she’s down too.
Meanwhile, Poseidon thinks maybe he should do some actual fighting himself, and calls on Apollo. It turns out that Priam’s father, Laomedon, stiffed Poseidon and Apollo of their promised wages after Poseidon built the wall around Troy and Apollo herded cattle from Mount Ida for Troy. Poseidon wonders why Apollo is on the side of the Trojans in the first place.
Apollo gets philosophical and quite poetic. He doesn’t want to fight –
“for the sake of mortals, poor things that they are. Ephemeral as the flamelike budding leaves, men flourish on the ripe wheat of the grainland, then in spiritless age they waste and die. We should give up our fighting over men. Let men themselves contend with one another.” Translated by Robert Fitzgerald
I love that translation by Robert Fitzgerald. It reminds me very much of the passage in the New Testament where Jesus speaks of the lilies of the field, and how a man’s life is worth so much more than they are. Apollo’s point of course just sticks with the ephemeral nature of human life. And yet, there is a kind of pity for humans there too, in this translation which I don’t see in the others.2 All I get from the others are a sense of “who cares?” and maybe even sloth from Apollo.
Even Alexander Pope keeps that sense in his translation:
“For what is man? Calamitous by birth, They owe their life and nourishment to earth: Like yearly leaves, that now, with beauty crowned, Smile on the sun; now wither on the ground; To their own hands commit the frantic scene, Nor mix immortals in a cause so mean." Translated by Alexander Pope
This is where I wish I could actually read the Greek for myself, and not just compare translations, or look up the usage of some of the words.3
Artemis isn’t impressed with Apollo’s reason to stand down from the fight and mocks him. So once more, Hera steps in. This time she doesn’t call Athena, she handles it herself. She takes both of Artemis’ wrists in one hand, and her quiver and bow in the other hand, and boxes her ears. At which point, Artemis runs off to cry to Zeus that his wife is hitting her. It had never occurred to me that Hera could win a fight with Artemis!
That just leaves Hermes and Leto to fight, and Hermes concedes the victory to Leto without a fight.
Apollo Comes Through
But now Achilles is getting close to the walls of Troy. Agenor, the son of Antenor, is the only one left to meet him outside the gates. Apollo gives him courage. Agenor challenges Achilles and throws his spear, which hits his shin straight on, but of course rebounds from the shinguard made by Hephaistos. Then he takes off, hoping to get Achilles to chase after him.
This time, Apollo actually helps. He covers him in mist so Achilles’ counter-attack doesn’t land, then spirits him away, as he did for Hektor earlier. But then, he takes Agenor’s place. Agenor had no chance of outrunning Achilles, but Apollo, of course, does. While Achilles chases who he thinks is Agenor away from the walls of Troy, the rest of the Trojan soldiers make it inside the walls.
The stage is set for Achilles to fight Hektor outside the walls of Troy in the next book.
Fighting for the Greeks are: Hera – wife of Zeus Hephaistos – son of Zeus by his wife Hera Athena – daughter of Zeus with no mother Hermes – son of Zeus by Maia (not specifically called a wife, that I could find) Poseidon – brother of Zeus; not a son. Fighting for the Trojans are: Leto – wife of Zeus (called that by Hermes) Apollo – son of Zeus by his wife Leto Artemis – son of Zeus by his wife Leto Ares – son of Zeus by his wife Hera Aphrodite – daughter of Zeus by Dione (not specifically called a wife, that I could find) Xanthos/Skamander – nephew of Zeus; not a son.
Homer, Iliad, Book 21, Line 221
ἀλλ᾽ ἄγε δὴ καὶ ἔασον: ἄγη μ᾽ ἔχει ὄρχαμε λαῶν. Book 21, Line 221
Homer, Iliad, Book 21, Lines 463 - 467
Homer … εἰ δὴ σοί γε βροτῶν ἕνεκα πτολεμίξω δειλῶν, οἳ φύλλοισιν ἐοικότες ἄλλοτε μέν τε ζαφλεγέες τελέθουσιν ἀρούρης καρπὸν ἔδοντες, ἄλλοτε δὲ φθινύθουσιν ἀκήριοι. ἀλλὰ τάχιστα παυώμεσθα μάχης: οἳ δ᾽ αὐτοὶ δηριαάσθων. Samuel Butler translation miserable mortals, who come out like leaves in summer and eat the fruit of the field, and presently fall lifeless to the ground. Let us stay this fighting at once and let them settle it among themselves. A. T. MURRAY mortals, pitiful creatures, that like unto leaves are now full of flaming life, eating the fruit of the field, and now again pine away and perish. Nay, with speed let us cease from strife, and let them do battle by themselves."
The only version of the Iliad I have bought is Robert Fitzgerald’s translation. Everything else is available for free on-line:
Homer, in the original Greek, with links to word definitions and usage: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0133
Translation by Samuel Butler: https://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Translation by Alexander Pope: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Iliad_of_Homer_(Pope)
Translation by A. T. Murray: https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomerIliad1.html
It is amazing how the slightest arrangement of words can amplify their impact. "Die must we all." This sets things in perspective remarkably quickly. Thank you, Mary.