The Iliad by Homer
I finished reading the essay The Iliad or the Poem of Force written in 1943 by Simone Weil. The essay and other similar works are preparation for my commitment to read the Iliad by Homer. The more I’ve learned of the ancient Greeks, the greater my desire to read Homers great poem. This text was the spiritual cornerstone of Periclean Athens, the “heart” of a people who linked the languages and cultures of the Mediterranean basin.
Here are a few words from the concluding paragraphs of the essay by Simone Weil.
The Romans and Hebrews
both thought themselves exempt
from common human misfortune,
the former as a nation destined to be master of the world,
the latter by the favor of their God
and precisely in proportion as they were obedient to him.
The Romans despised foreigners,
enemies, the vanquished,
their subjects, their slaves;
thus they had neither epics nor tragedies.
They substituted gladiators for tragedies.
The Hebrews saw misfortune
as indicative of sin
and consequently
a proper justification for contempt.
They considered their beaten foes
repellent to God himself
and damned to atone for crimes;
this made cruelty permissible,
even mandatory.….human misery
may be disregarded only by those who have
camouflaged the severity of destiny
in their own eyes by an illusion,
an intoxication,
or a figment of the imagination…nothing is protected from fate.
