Sunday, March 23, 2008

Sheep and Wolves

From the Iliad:" . . . Hector faced Achilles. He cried out to him, 'If I kill you I will give back your body to your friends and do you do the same to me.' But Achilles answered, 'Madman. There are no covenants between sheep and wolves, nor between you and me." (from Hamilton's Mythology)

Reading this passage reminds me of a current dilemma facing Americans. What is our legal relationship with the rest of the world?

Certainly, there are covenants that govern the interactions among nations. What obligation exists between parties who are committed to a covenant and those who are not? If a nation does not enter a treaty, or breaks one, how can it claim the benefits of said treaty? What if the party in question is not a nation at all?

In the end, doesn't it break down to "sheep and wolves"?

Through his rage, Achilles sees all as sheep beneath him. Who are we? Who are our enemies?

In the war between the West and Radical Islamic Terrorists, one party targets school girls, beheads civilians, stores ammo under the beds of its own children, and sends mentally disabled "martyrs" where the able minded are increasingly unwilling to go.

1 comment:

Endymion said...

Butler has this translation:

Let us, then, give pledges to one another by our gods, who are the fittest witnesses and guardians of all covenants; let it be agreed between us that if Zeus grants me the longer stay and I take your life [psukhê], I am not to treat your dead body in any unseemly fashion, but when I have stripped you of your armor, I am to give up your body to the Achaeans. And do you likewise."

Achilles glared at him and answered, "Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out an through. Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall fall and glut grim Ares with his life's blood.

From this Greek (Book 22.250 ish ff.Perseus Project)

τοὶ γὰρ ἄριστοι μάρτυροι ἔσσονται καὶ ἐπίσκοποι ἁρμονιάων*: οὐ γὰρ ἐγώ σ' ἔκπαγλον ἀεικιω̂, αἴ κεν ἐμοὶ Ζεὺς δώῃ καμμονίην*, σὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἀφέλωμαι: ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ ἄρ κέ σε συλήσω κλυτὰ τεύχε' ̓Αχιλλευ
νεκρὸν ̓Αχαιοι̂σιν δώσω πάλιν: ὣς δὲ σὺ ῥέζειν.

τὸν δ' ἄρ' ὑπόδρα ἰδὼν προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς ̓Αχιλλεύς: ̔́Εκτορ μή μοι ἄλαστε* συνημοσύνας* ἀγόρευε:
ὡς οὐκ ἔστι λέουσι καὶ ἀνδράσιν ὅρκια* πιστά, οὐδὲ λύκοι τε καὶ ἄρνες ὁμόφρονα θυμὸν ἔχουσιν, ἀλλὰ κακὰ φρονέουσι διαμπερὲς ἀλλήλοισιν, ὣς οὐκ ἔστ' ἐμὲ καὶ σὲ φιλήμεναι, οὐδέ* τι νω̂ϊν
ὅρκια ἔσσονται, πρίν* γ' ἢ ἕτερόν γε πεσόντα αἵματος ἀ̂σαι ̓́Αρηα ταλαύρινον πολεμιστήν.