The Iliad, Book 17

Sorry for the long delay!  I had some family business to take care of, but all is well now!

Summary, Book 17

This book opens with people fighting over Patroclus’s body.  Menelaus is one of the first Achaens to realize Patroclus is dead and he is beside himself:

Dressed in gleaming armour, he strode through the ranks
of those fighting in the front, then made a stand
over the corpse, like a mother beside her calf,
lowing over her first born, with no experience
of giving birth till then.

This is one of several comparisons between pain on the battlefield and childbirth, which seems a really strange comparison for a battle saga.

Euphorbus tries to swipe Patroclus’s armour, but Menelaus kills him.  Apollo sees this unfold and decides to inspire Hector to attack by informing him that Euphorbus, “the best man of the Trojans”, has been killed by Menelaus.  Since when is Euphorbus the best of the Trojans?  News to me.  Hector sees Menelaus trying to swipe Euphorbus’s armour and is enraged.  These guys get really pissed off about armour.  He lets out a piercing war cry, and Menelaus begins to have second thoughts about this whole endeavor.  He weighs whether it would be cowardly to retreat, even though staying and facing Hector himself means certain death.

When Menealus sees Hector and his men advancing, his mind is made up and takes off, leaving the body behind.  But he is not fully retreating; he finds Ajax and asks for his help in defending Patroclus’s body.  They return to the body together and manage to fend off the Trojans and shield Patroclus’s body.  They are too late to save the armour, which Hector has taken, but they manage to keep the body from being mutilated.

Once that is done, Glaucus begins to berate Hector:

“Hector, to look at you,                                   
you’re the finest man we’ve got, but in battle
you’re sadly lacking. That fame you have
as a courageous warrior is misplaced.
You’re a man who runs away. Consider now,
how are you going to save your city
only with those soldiers born in Ilion?
For no Lycian will set out to fight
against Danaans for your city’s sake,
since there’s apparently no gratitude
for taking on our enemies without a rest.                                       
How can you rescue a lesser warrior
from the thick of battle, ungrateful man,                                                    
when Sarpedon, once your companion,
your guest, you abandon to the Argives,
to become their battle spoils, their trophy…”

He’s still upset about Sarpedon.  Hector is indignant at being called cowardly, and he says if they restart the battle he will join once he has changed into Achilles’s armour (taken from Patroclus’s body).

Zeus makes the armour fit Hector perfectly, and the spirit of Ares fills Hector.  Ajax and Menelaus realize that if they stay they are done for.  Ajax pragmatically points out that Patroclus’s body is going to be food for vultures soon anyway.  Ha.  So anyway, they leave and round up more Achaeans.  The battle is chaotic and intense, and Zeus settles a mist over Patroclus because, apparently, he had no animosity toward him and does not want to see his body desecrated. Zeus is definitely playing both sides in this book, more so than before.

Here’s a vivid description of what’s happening:

So they fought on, like blazing fire. You couldn’t tell
whether sun and moon still shone, for in that fight
a mist surrounded all the best men standing there
beside Menoetius’ dead son. Meanwhile, other Trojans                                    
fought other well-armed Achaeans undisturbed,
under a clear sky, bright sunshine all around them,                               
no clouds above the entire earth or on the mountains.
So they fought more casually, keeping their distance,
staying out of range of each other’s painful weapons.
But soldiers in the centre were suffering badly
in the fog and fighting. The pitiless bronze
was wearing down the finest men.

The Achaeans are doing well and are about to dive the Trojans back to Ilion when Apollo appears to Aeneas.  He appears in the form of the son of Aeneas’s father’s advisor.  For some reason, I find it hilarious when the gods take on the form of these people with tangential connections to the mortal the god hopes to inspire.  But I’m sure people hearing this were much better versed than I am in the various backstories, so perhaps in context it makes a lot of sense.  Anyway, Apollo inspire Aeneas to rally up the retreating Trojans.  But they still can’t get to Patroclus’s body.

Oh, now we get a detailed description of the grief suffered by… Achilles’s horses.  Sorry, have to quote in full:

Men talked like this to strengthen their companions.
Then they fought on, the smash of iron rising up                                   
through the bronze sky. But the horses of Achilles,
descendant of Aeacus, stood some distance from the fight,
weeping from the time they first learned their charioteer
had fallen in the dust at the hands of Hector,
killer of men. Automedon, brave son of Diores,
often lashed them with a stroke of his quick whip,                                            
and often spoke to them with soothing words or threats,
but the two weren’t willing to withdraw back to the ships
by the broad Hellespont, or go towards Achaeans
locked in battle. They stayed beside their ornate chariot,                  
immobile, like a pillar standing on the tomb
of some dead man or woman, heads bowed down to earth.
Warm tears flowed from their eyes onto the ground,
as they cried, longing for their driver. Their thick manes,
covered in dirt, trailed down below their harnesses
on both sides of the yoke. Looking at those horses,                                           
as they mourned, the son of Cronos pitied them.
Shaking his head, Zeus spoke to his own heart…

Zeus feels really sorry for the horses, mourning Patroclus.  He decides to inspire them and allow Automedon to take them into battle.  Hector and Aeneas try to go after the horses but they fail miserably.  Meanwhile:

Athena stirred up the conflict, coming down from heaven,
sent by wide-seeing Zeus to urge on the Danaans.
For his mind had changed.

Zeus, honestly.  Make up your mind.

Athena inspires Menelaus to continue to fight to protect Patroclus’s body.  She takes the form of Phoenix.  Apollo decides to similarly inspire Hector, taking the form of the son of one of Hector’s favorite houseguests.  Ha!  The Achaeans are now getting driven back (Zeus changed his mind again?) and Ajax sobs, praying to Zeus to lift the fog. At once the fog is lifted.

Now Menelaus bites the bullet and does what everyone must have really been putting off for as long as possible: he sends someone (Antilochus) to go inform Achilles that his BFF is dead.  The battle is leaning in favor of the Trojans as the book ends, but Ajax and Menelaus have had enough of this whole body controversy and manage to get Patroclus’s body to the Achaean ships.

Reading Notes

It is interesting that Zeus pities Hector enough to help him win a few short-term victories, but not enough to change his destiny.  Is he powerless to change destiny, or does he just feel no interest in doing so because doing so would defeat some greater purpose?

I definitely do not do the battle scenes justice in my descriptions.  They are so much move vivid, and gory, than I let on.  It would just become extremely repetitive to describe them all in detail.

Oh, and I do not envy the guy who has to go break the bad news to Achilles.

More tomorrow!

-Lily