In Book 9 of The Iliad, Odysseus and Ajax go to Achilles in order to try to spur him into battle. However, Achilles wants nothing of it. Instead he becomes rather morbid and says to his once brothers’ in arms:
“One and the same lot for the man who hangs back and the man who battles hard. The same honor waits for the coward and the brave. They both go down to Death,...” (9:385-587)
It is debated whether Achilles was actually contemplating on a rather melancholy truth of life, or if he was just spotting rhetoric in order not to go into battle, but nonetheless, his words on the damning nature of fate resonate with the reader. Fate, or moíra, is definitely a prevalent theme throughout Homer’s masterpiece. This conception of predestination, with no escape from the horrors of what has been already decided for one’s own life, is illustrated and fortified by different events throughout the epic. However, the devastatingly true proposition brought forth by Achilles …show more content…
This can obviously be seen in the fact that Zeus is the one who has decided who will win the Trojan War. Whether someone lived or died honestly relied on whether you might have been especially favored by a god that may intercede to Zeus on your behalf in order to prolong their life. This is rather delicate and precarious. As is self-evident throughout The Iliad, the gods are very fickle, childish, and temperamental. To have your life rest in the hands of such wayward beings, and to have no true power to stay alive, is concerning at the very least. Thus, Achilles assertion is true. Whether one avoids death by say not going into battle or faces death intrepidly by running into its arms by the way of war, your fate will be the same, because it is not one’s choices that declares if they will die or how they will die. It is the cruel gods that decide and have denied human beings the coveted immortality they possess, thus humans are inevitably born to
“One and the same lot for the man who hangs back and the man who battles hard. The same honor waits for the coward and the brave. They both go down to Death,...” (9:385-587)
It is debated whether Achilles was actually contemplating on a rather melancholy truth of life, or if he was just spotting rhetoric in order not to go into battle, but nonetheless, his words on the damning nature of fate resonate with the reader. Fate, or moíra, is definitely a prevalent theme throughout Homer’s masterpiece. This conception of predestination, with no escape from the horrors of what has been already decided for one’s own life, is illustrated and fortified by different events throughout the epic. However, the devastatingly true proposition brought forth by Achilles …show more content…
This can obviously be seen in the fact that Zeus is the one who has decided who will win the Trojan War. Whether someone lived or died honestly relied on whether you might have been especially favored by a god that may intercede to Zeus on your behalf in order to prolong their life. This is rather delicate and precarious. As is self-evident throughout The Iliad, the gods are very fickle, childish, and temperamental. To have your life rest in the hands of such wayward beings, and to have no true power to stay alive, is concerning at the very least. Thus, Achilles assertion is true. Whether one avoids death by say not going into battle or faces death intrepidly by running into its arms by the way of war, your fate will be the same, because it is not one’s choices that declares if they will die or how they will die. It is the cruel gods that decide and have denied human beings the coveted immortality they possess, thus humans are inevitably born to