The greathearted Patroclus trying to stagger free,.
Seeing him wounded there with the sharp bronze.
Came rushing into him right across the lines.
And rammed his spearshaft home, .
stabbing deep into the bowels, and the brazen point.
went jutting straight out through Patroclus" back.
Down he crashed-horror griped the Achaean armies.
As when some lion overpowers a tireless boar.
up on a mountain summit, battling in all their fury.
over a little spring of water, both beasts craving.
to slake their thirst, but the lion beats him down.
with sheer brute force as the boar fights for breath-.
so now with a close thrust Hector son of Priam.
tore the life from the fighting son of Menoetius,.
from Patroclus who had killed so many men in war,.
and gloried over him, wild winging words: "Patroclus-.
surely you must have thought you"d storm my city down,.
you"d wrest from the wives of Troy their day of freedom,.
drag them off in ships to your on dear fatherland-.
you fool! Rearing in their defense my war-team,.
Hector's horses were charging out to battle, .
galloping, full stretch. And I with my spear,.
Hector, shining among my combat-loving comrades,.
I fight away from them the fatal day - but you,.
The vultures will eat your body raw!.
As the title suggests, nice guys finish last. The nice guy is Patroclus and finishing last means his death in the end. These lines describe the death of the Achaean warrior, Patroclus. It is written in more colloquial style. It is as if two common Greek citizens are discussing the story in the streets rather than two kings delivering speeches in a royal hall. The style it is written in creates a strong emotion for the reader. The simplistic words allow the reader to focus on the loss of a great man rather than worrying about interpreting the poet's ideas. And what a loss of life it is! Patroclus is the most human, most identifiable character in the Iliad. His kindness and overall good nature create a strong bond with the reader.
The Illiad is one of the greatest artifacts of Western civilization. ... He says that the Illiad is more like a heroic epic. He informs us that the Illiad has a narrative impact and brilliant imagery. ... The Illiad is by for most a great epic poem. ... The Illiad is the oldest and in some ways. ...
In the Illiad, Zeus takes an impartial stance with the war unfolding, not choosing a side over the other. ... Virgil takes a similar situation from the Illiad and uses it in the Aeneid. ... This is similar to the situation in the Illiad where Athene shows Diomedes the gods on the battlefield. ... Virgil parallels the climactic combat between Turnus and Aeneas with the fight of Achilles and Hector in the Illiad. But unlike in the Illiad, the outcome of the battle is predetermined in the eyes of the gods, with Aeneas as the victor. ...
This continuing evolution is evident in Homer's prolific poems the Illiad and the Odyssey, Whether mortal or immortal, caregiver or monster, the women in each tale played various important roles as each story is set within the timeframe of the Trojan War. ... A key evidence of this is in Book 1 of the Illiad when she uses Athena to appear before Achilles as he prepares to kill Agamennon, the Achaen commander. ...
On the other hand, the Greeks and Trojans in the Illiad fought their wars as if it was game . ... The battles between the Greeks and Trojans in the war of the Illiad, however, were much different from the primitive holy wars of the Bible. ... Therefore, the battles of the Illiad only involved the men, unlike the book of Joshua. ...
This flaw shared by many other heroes of the Illiad, is the reason I see these two men as cursed, not heroic. In the beginning of the Illiad, Agamemnon has been counseled by the seer to return the priests daughter to him at once. ... His stubborn pride will stay intact through out the majority of the Illiad. ...
The Odyssey, told by "Homer", is one of the most famous poems ever. Many ideas, phrases, and references from the story and the Illiad, such as the infamous Trojan Horse, are emulated in various cartoons and movies. The story tells about the travels of Odysseus, a war hero in the Trojan War. He is...
In Patroclus's death there is a point where he is trying to "stagger free" with only a wound (line 453). ... Hector "tore the life from the fighting son of Meneotius," and wished vultures to eat upon his body (line 467). ... The comparison of humans to animals is also seen in Patroclus's death ("the lion beats him down with sheer brute force as the boar fights for breath" line 465). ... Found within the line "gathering all his force he swooped like a soaring eagle launching down from the dark clouds to earth," Achilles, being the soaring eagle can be seen in the perspective of a G...
