Cowardly Heroes

[larry]

I'm on my third reading of The Iliad as translated by Alexander Pope. I've been struck each time by the behavior of the heroes of note. They seem to be bullies, boasters and cowards.They behave bravely enough as long as the battle is pitched in their favor but when the tide is turned against them, they are sometimes so quick to skedaddle that their own troops are crushed under their chariot wheels. Hector has come down through history as the personification of patriotic virtue. Dante, in Inferno, exempts him from hellish torture by placing him in his circle of virtuous pagans; Shakespeare portrays him as the bravest of the Knights in the play Troilus and Cressida. Homer however, the first to pen his exploits, is not so kind in endowing him with feet of clay which carry him three times around the walls of Troy in an attempt to escape the wrath of Achilles. I'm not picking on Hector; none of the other heroes, with the possible exception of Ulysses, behave much better. But the greatest virtue that he, Hector, seems to possess is the full understanding of the maxim: discretion is the better part of valor. Can anyone offer insight into this enigma?

[crisaor]

About discretion being the better part of valor, I ignore if that's the case. About Hector, I can tell you this. If you, a mere mortal, were to battle an invincible opponent, son of gods, and you knew of this condition, would you prefer a direct approach when going to battle? I didn't think so. Besides, Hector was Troy's best fighter, and he knew that if he were to be killed, it would be a devastating blow for his people. Also, Hector did not know of Achilles weakness (that is, his heel), so he knew that there was no chance to beat him, at least not alone. If Hector was a coward, he wouldn't have fought Achilles in the first place. That's my $0,02.

[papayahed]

I'm trudging through this book right now. I can kinda see where your coming from Larry, but not really in relation to Hector. I just finished the chapter where the Trojans are pretty close to the Achians ships and Agemmemnon has the plan to get the ships ready to retreat. I was like "WHAT????" He gets all those men together, travels to Troy, spends 10 years there, then at the sign of trouble he decides to cut and run?

[papayahed]

Is Agemmemnom considered "a hero"?

[crisaor]

It depends. He did accoplish lots of things and wasn't bad at combat, however, he was a king, so most of his fame comes from his status. Compared to other heroes like Achilles, Odysseus, or Ayax, he loses miserably. His conduct wasn't as decent as the ones I mentioned either.