The Wikipedia article “Superhero” traces the word itself to “at least 1917,” giving “such folkloric heroes as Robin Hood” as “Antecedents of the archetype.” I don’t know why Achilles should not be considered as an antecedent. According to the opening description,
A superhero is a type of heroic stock character, usually possessing supernatural or superhuman powers, who is dedicated to fighting the evil of their universe, protecting the public, and usually battling super-villains.
Achilles has superhuman powers; he has supernatural powers, when aided by the gods; and now in Book XX of the Iliad, as far as the Greeks are concerned, he is fighting the evil of their universe. However, the Trojans are not evil in Homer’s universe. There is no Manichaean principle of evil, and much less is Achilles personally devoted to fighting it.
Nonetheless, Book XX would seem to be a battle of the superheroes.
The scene from where I read as the sun went down
Jove has Themis call a court. All floods come but Oceanus, and all nymphs. Neptune wants to know the point. The point is to give the gods one last chance to back their men, as Jove himself would the Trojans, since otherwise it’s all over for them (lines 17–30):
Thou know’st this counsell by the rest, of those forepurposes,
That still inclin’d me; my cares still, must succour the distresse
Of Troy; though in the mouth of Fate; yet vow I, not to stirre
One step from off this top of heauen; but all th’affaire referre
To any one. Here Ile hold state, and freely take the ioy
Of eithers fate: helpe whom ye please; for tis assur’d, that Troy,
Not one dayes conflict can sustaine, against Æacides,
If heauen oppose not. His meere lookes, threw darts enow, t’impresse
Their powres with trembling; but when blowes, sent from his fiery hand,
(Thrice heat by slaughter of his friend) shall come and countermand
Their former glories: we haue feare, that though Fate keepe their wall,
Hee’l ouerturne it. Then descend; and ceasse not till ye all
Adde all your aides; mixe earth and heauen, together with the fight
Achilles vrgeth. These his words, did such a warre excite …
Lining up
- for the Greeks are Juno, Pallas, Neptune (“the god that doth the earth embrace,” line 33), Mercury, and Mulciber;
- for the Trojans are Mars, Diana, Phoebus, Aphrodite, mother of Apollo (namely Latona), and Xanthus (the river).
Till the gods come, the Greeks are prevailing under Achilles; then Jove sends down thunderclaps, his brother raises earthquakes, and (lines 63–6) their brother, “th’infernall king,”
And leapt affrighted from his throne; cried out, lest ouer him
Neptune should rend in two the earth; and so his house so dim,
So lothsome, filthy, and abhord, of all the gods beside,
Should open, both to gods and men. Thus, all things shooke and cri’d …
There is quick description of the gods’ fighting; and then, in the guise of Priam’s son Lycaon, Apollo suggests to Aeneas that he must have been in his cups when he planned to fight Achilles. Aeneas admits to fear, recalling of Achilles how “his still breath’d furie chac’t / Our oxen from th’Idaean hill, and set on me” (lines 90–1). “Meere man then must not fight with him” (line 97); however, with a god’s aid, Aeneas would definitely go against Achilles.
Apollo (as Lycaon) reminds Aeneas that he has a divine mother, “the Queene, that reignes in Salamine” (line 104); Achilles’s mother is a deity of lower rank.
Aeneas is emboldened, and Juno is worried, lest Achilles think he is fated to fall now. Neptune takes Aeneas’s side, telling Juno, “at no time let your Care Exceed your Reason … Sit we by … And leaue the warres of men, to men” (lines 129–33) – unless Mars or Phoebus interferes.
Aeacides and Venus’s son stare one another down.
Remember that time on the Idaean hill? asks Achilles.
Words don’t scare me, says Aeneas. I could talk that way to you, but we are both too well born. Moreover, Jove begat Dardanus, who begat Erichthoneus, who begat Tros, who begat Ilus, Assaracus and Ganymed; Ilus begat Laomedon, who begat Tithon, Priam, Clytius, Hicetaon, and Lampus; Assaracus begat Capys, who begat Anchises; Anchises begat me; Priam, Hector.
With simple tables such as pandoc accommodates, we may display the generations thus:
| Jove |
| | |
| Dardanus |
| | |
| Erichthoneus |
| | |
| Tros |
| | |
| Ilus, Assaracus, Ganymed |
and then
| Ilus | Assaracus |
| | | | |
| Laomedon | Capys |
| | | | |
| Tithon, Priam, Clytius, Hicetaon, Lampus | Anchises |
| | | | |
| Hector | Aeneas |
We first saw Aeneas in action in Book V. He also features near the beginning of the Catalogue of Trojans in Book II (lines 725–32):
The Duke of all the Troian power, great helme-deckt Hector was:
Which stood of many mightie men, well skild in darts of brasse:
Aeneas of commixed seed (a goddesse with a man,
Anchises, with the Queene of loue:) the troopes Dardanian,
Led to the field; his louely Sire, in Idas lower shade,
Begat him of sweet Cypridis; he solely was not made
Chiefe leader of the Dardan powers: Antenors valiant sonnes,
Archilochus, and Acamas, were ioyn’d companions.
It may be important for Virgil’s Aeneid that the title character’s genealogy comes
- in the Iliad at all, and
- near the end in particular.
It may be good style on Homer’s part, in any case. It can be pleasant to learn details of a character as an afterthought. Maugham gives us details about Gray Maturin that way in The Razor’s Edge. We have known Gray since the beginning of the novel, but the following comes in the last chapter (of seven):
“My dear, I’m a very immoral person,” I answered. “When I’m really fond of anyone, though I deplore his wrongdoing it doesn’t make me less fond of him. You’re not a bad woman in your way and you have every grace and every charm. I don’t enjoy your beauty any the less because I know how much it owes to the happy combination of perfect taste and ruthless determination. You only lack one thing to make you completely enchanting.”
She smiled and waited.
“Tenderness.”
The smile died on her lips and she gave me a glance that was totally lacking in amenity, but before she could collect herself to reply Gray lumbered into the room. In the three years he had been in Paris Gray had put on a good many pounds, his face had grown redder and his hair was thinning rapidly, but he was in rude health and in high spirits. He was unaffectedly pleased to see me. Gray’s conversation was composed of clichés. However shopworn, he uttered them with an obvious conviction that he was the first person to think of them. He never went to bed, but hit the hay, where he slept the sleep of the just; if it rained, it rained to beat the band and to the very end Paris to him was Gay Paree. But he was so kindly, so unselfish, so upright, so reliable, so unassuming that it was impossible not to like him. I had a real affection for him. He was excited now over their approaching departure.
“Gosh, it’ll be great to get into harness again,” he said. “I’m feeling my oats already.”
“Is it all settled then?”
“I haven’t signed on the dotted line yet, but it’s on ice. The fella I’m going in with was a roommate of mine at college, and he’s a good scout, and I’m dead sure he wouldn’t hand me a lemon. But as soon as we get to New York I’ll fly down to Texas to give the outfit the once-over, and you bet I’ll keep my eyes peeled for a nigger in the woodpile before I cough up any of Isabel’s dough.”
“Gray’s a very good businessman, you know,” she said.
“I wasn’t raised in a barn,” he smiled.
He went on to tell me at somewhat excessive length about the business he was entering, but I understand little of such matters and the only concrete fact I gathered was that he stood a good chance of making a lot of money.
I imagine Maugham has copied the highlighted section out of his notebook, along with the ensuing clichés presented as direct quotations. In Chapter Five he told us of Gray,
He ceased to have racking headaches and his eyes were losing the look of bewilderment that when first I saw him on coming to Paris had been so distressing. He did not talk much except now and then to tell a long-winded story, but laughed with great loud guffaws at the nonsense Isabel and I talked. He enjoyed himself. Though not amusing, he was so good-humoured and so easily pleased that it was impossible not to like him. He was the kind of man with whom one would have hesitated to pass a lonely evening, but with whom one might cheerfully have looked forward to spending six months.
Thus we learn progressively more and more about a supporting character in The Razor’s Edge. So it is with Aeneas in the Iliad. Note added September 7, 2024.
So Hector and I are of very good family, says Aeneas. However, only Jove gives virtue; so why are we talking? Our steel will prove our worth.
What Aeneas says includes the following, beginning with the conclusion of his genealogy – so “we” refers to Hector and him, not Achilles and him (lines 219–26):
Ilus begot Laomedon; god-like Laomedon
Got Tithon, Priam, Clytius, Mars-like Hycetaon,
And Lampus. Great Assaracus, Capys begot; and he,
Anchises; Prince Anchises, me. King Priam, Hector; we
Sprang both of one high family. Thus, fortunate men giue birth;
But Ioue giues vertue; he augments; and he empaires the worth
Of all men; and his will, their Rule; he strong’st; all strength affoords;
Why then paint we (like dames) the face, of Conflict with our words?
Homer seems to have not “dames,” but “little children” (lines 244–5):
ἀλλ᾽ ἄγε μηκέτι ταῦτα λεγώμεθα νηπύτιοι ὣς
ἑσταότ᾽ ἐν μέσσῃ ὑσμίνῃ δηϊοτῆτος.But come, no longer let us talk thus like children,
as we twain stand in the midst of the strife of battle.
However, there are women in the sequel (lines 227–34):
Both may giue language, that a ship, driuen with a hundred ores,
Would ouer-burthen: a mans tongue, is voluble, and poures
Words out, of all sorts; euery way; such as you speake, you heare.
What then need we vie calumnies, like women that will weare
Their tongues out, being once incenst; and striue for strife, to part
(Being on their way) they trauell so: from words, words may auert;
From vertue, not; it is your steele (diuine Aeacides)
Must proue my proofe, as mine shall yours. Thus amply did he ease
Aeneas is saying something is unmanly, and it is not tears (such as those of Achilles in Book I, or of Agamemnon in Book VIII, or Patroclus in Book XVI), or worrying (like Achilles in Book XVIII), but – talking. Note added September 7, 2024.
So says Aeneas, who then launches a dart, which passes through two of the five plates of Achilles’s shield. Achilles is foolish enough to be unnerved, not understanding that arms made by a god will not yield so soon.
Achilles’s spear does pass through Aeneas’s shield, fixing it in the ground. Aeneas throws a two-man rock, but Achilles still comes on and would kill Aeneas, did Neptune not interfere.
I’m sorry for Aeneas, says Neptune. Why did Phoebus goad him to fight, without backing him up? Aeneas did nothing wrong to the Greeks, and he has often given us offerings.
Neptune suggests withdrawing from combat. If Achilles kills Aeneas, then Jove will be angry, and it will contradict fate, which says Virgil is going to be able to write the Aeneid.
Obviously Homer does not have Neptune say that exactly, but Jove hates Priam’s race, while loving Dardanus’s, and they will have to “propagate the names / Of Troians; and their sonnes sonnes rule, to all posteritie” (lines 270–1).
Juno says she and Pallas will not relent from destroying Troy. Neptune casts a mist about Achilles’s eyes, spirits away Aeneas, and tells him to avoid Achilles, since no other Greek is a threat.
Achilles recovers his sight, finds his lance at his feet, figures the gods love Aeneas, and tells each Greek to pick his man, since he (Achilles) cannot do everything himself.
Hector tells the Trojans not to fear Achilles, who is only a man.
Phoebus tells Hector again to stay away from Achilles.
Achilles kills some other guys.
I listed those guys in “Words (Iliad Book XX).” The last of them is Polydore, whose full brother, Lycaon, Achilles will kill in Book XXI. Meanwhile, all we know is that Polydorus is Priam’s youngest son, therefore forbidden from fighting. He is also the fastest of Priam’s sons, but cannot outrun the spear of Achilles (lines 359–74):
Then rusht he on; and in his eye, had heauenly Polydore,
Old Priams sonne; whom last of all, his fruitfull Princesse bore;
And for his youth (being deare to him) the king forbad to fight.
Yet (hote of vnexperienc’t blood, to shew how exquisite
He was of foote: for which of all, the fiftie sonnes he held
The speciall name.) He flew before, the first heate of the field;
Euen till he flew out breath and soule: which, through the backe, the lance
Of swift Achilles, put in ayre, and did his head aduance
Out at his nauill: on his knees, the poore Prince crying fell;
And gatherd with his tender hands, his entrailes; that did swell
Quite through the wide wound, till a cloud, as blacke as death, conceald
Their sight, and all the world from him. When Hector had beheld
His brother tumbl’d so to earth (his entrailes still in hand)
Darke sorrow ouercast his eyes; nor farre off could he stand
A minute longer: but like fire, he brake out of the throng;
Shooke his long lance, at Thetis sonne; And then came he along …
It seems as if Polydore meant not to fight, but to show that he could get away from anybody who tried to fight with him. He was then like people gored at a running of the bulls; or like Berkin Elvan, who could not outrun a gas cannister at the Gezi Park protests.
Polydorus “flew before, the first heate of the field; / Euen till he flew out breath and soule.” I am not sure whether
- Polydore flew his breath and soul, as if they were a kite, or,
- as in “I’m all for you, body and soul,” breath and soul were just Polydore himself, who flew.
In any case, Chapman is engaged in a kind of zeugma here, as he is in saying (if I am reading correctly) that the lance of Achilles put
- Polydorus’s breath and soul into the air,
- its own head through the boy’s navel.
The poetry is Chapman’s; Lattimore has (lines 407–21),
Next he went with the spear after godlike Polydoros,
Priam’s son, whom his father would not let go into battle
because he was youngest born of all his sons to him, and also
the most beloved, and in speed of his feet outpassed all the others.
But now, in his young thoughtlessness and display of his running
he swept among the champions until thus he destroyed his dear life.
For as he shot by swift-footed brilliant Achilleus hit him
with a spear thrown in the middle of the back where the clasps of the war belt
were golden and came together at the joining halves of the corselet.
The spearhead held its way straight on and came out by the navel,
and he dropped, moaning, on one knee as the dark mist gathered
about him, and sagged, and caught with his hands at his bowels in front of him.But now when Hektor saw Polydoros, his own brother,
going limp to the ground and catching his bowels in his hands,
the mist closed about his eyes also, he could stand no longer …
Note added September 8, 2024.
Then Achilles encounters Hector (lines 375–80),
To feed th’encounter: O (said he) here comes the man that most,
Of all the world destroyes my minde: the man by whom I lost
My deare Patroclus; now not long, the crooked paths of warre,
Can yeeld vs any priuie scapes: Come, keepe not off so farre,
(He cryed to Hector) make the paine, of thy sure death as short,
As one, so desperate of his life, hath reason. In no sort …
Hector is scared, but has the presence of mind to retort (lines 381–8),
This frighted Hector, who bore close: and said; Aeacides,
Leaue threates for children; I haue powre, to thunder calumnies,
As well as others; and well know, thy strength superiour farre,
To that my nerues hold; but the gods, (not nerues) determine warre.
And yet (for nerues) there will be found, a strength of powre in mine,
To driue a lance home to thy life; my lance, as well as thine
Hath point, and sharpenesse, and tis this. Thus brandishing his speare,
He set it flying; which a breath, of Pallas, backe did beare …
Hector throws, but the breath of Pallas blows that lance back to Hector’s feet. Achilles rushes him, but Apollo spirits him away again. Achilles detects the interference, vows to get Hector some day, but meanwhile turns to killing other Trojans again, as we learn in graphic descriptions. Alastor’s son Troas begs for mercy, but finds none:
He gladly would haue made a prayre, and still so hugg’d his knee,
He could not quit him: till at last, his sword was faine to free
His fetterd knees: that made a vent, for his white liuers blood,
That causd such pittifull affects: of which, it pour’d a flood
About his bosome; which it fild, euen till it drownd his eyes;
And all sense faild him. Forth then flew, this Prince of tragedies,
Who next, stoopt Mulius, euen to death, with his insatiate speare:
One eare it enterd, and made good, his passe to th’other eare.
For all I know, the white liver could be the lung in Chapman’s English, as it is in Turkish; however, online I see only that “white liver” is used in Appalachia (and perhaps elsewhere) for a strong sex-drive, particularly in women.
Achilles’s horse trample all under foot, as oxen do the corn harvest in a barn.
Edited September 7 & 8, 2024
Polytropy 
2 Trackbacks
[…] « On Chapman’s Homer’s Iliad, Book XX […]
[…] is from Book XX of the Iliad, Chapman’s lines 348–58 (which are different from Homer’s lines). Chapman’s […]