Ben’s Reviews > The Iliad > Status Update

“
…Come,
sit on a chair, and let us hide our grief
inside ourselves, despite our bitter sorrow.
Nothing can be achieved by cold lamenting.
The gods have spun for all unlucky mortals
a life of grief, while nothing troubles them.
“

“…[Hephaestus] used a sponge to wipe his face, thick neck, and hairy chest and both his hands. Then he put on a tunic,
and took a sturdy staff and limped outside.
Slaves hurried to assist their lord. They were made all of gold, but looked like living women.
They had a consciousness inside their hearts,
and strength and voices. They had learned their skills from deathless gods. They sped beneath their master”

“And yet there was no ending of the war.”

“Then she unfastened the embroidered strap she kept between her breasts, on which was worked every seductive spell. It had lovemaking, intimacy, desire, and flirty talk-
flirtation makes the wisest lose their minds.”

“Canny Odysseus stood just behind him,
and every time the son of Tydeus
approached a man and killed him with his sword, Odysseus would grab the victim's foot
and drag him to the side, because he wanted
to make sure that the splendid long-maned horses
would pass through easily and not be spooked
by stepping on the bodies of the dead.”

“‘Zeus set an evil lot upon us all,
to make us topics of a singer’s tale
for people in the future still unborn.’”