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The Iliad and the Aeneid

mnon, also a proud man, continues the siege without the greatest of the Greek warriors. By book IX, however, the war has turned against the Greeks and Agamemnon is forced to swallow his pride and send a delegation to Achilles to persuade him to reenter the war. In an effort to make good the slight to Achilles' honor, Agamemnon promises an immense amount of treasure, but Achilles refuses to be tempted and, in the anger of the moment, declares that he will only fight once the Trojans attack his own ships. It is only at that point, according to Achilles, that he will be able to rejoin the battle as a point of personal honor rather than as Agamemnon's hired lackey. Thus, we see that Achilles honor is more important to him than the lives of his countrymen. Thus is revealed the egocentric concept of honor advanced by Homer in the Iliad.

Achilles is driven primarily by a thirst for glory and honor. While some part of him yearns to live a long, easy life, he knows that his personal fate forces him to choose between the two:

Mother tells me, the immortal goddess Thetis with her glistening feet, that two fates bear me on to the day of death. If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory diesàtrue, but the life thatÆs left me will be long, the stroke of death will not come on me quickly (Iliad, IX, 497-505).

Ultimately, Achilles is willing to sacrifice everything, including his own life and those of his countrymen, so that his name will be remembered. The Iliad revolves around this decision, it is the focal point of the book and indeed the fulcrum around which all the `ction occurs.

As the Iliad unfolds and Achilles continues to sit on the sidelines, the Trojans eventually bring the war right up to the fortifications surrounding the Greek ships in book XII. Under HectorÆs heroic leadership, the Trojans manage to ...

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The Iliad and the Aeneid. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:28, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709997.html