ACROSS LANDS FORLORN: THE EPIC JOURNEY OF THE HERO, FROM HOMER TO CHANDLER Volume One

Sergio Sergi

ACROSS LANDS FORLORN:

THE EPIC JOURNEY OF THE HERO, FROM

HOMER TO CHANDLER.

SERGIO SERGI

B.A. University of Adelaide M.A. University of Ottawa M.A University of Sydney

A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Canberra. March 2006

i

Certificate of authorship of thesis.

Except where clearly acknowledged in footnotes, quotations and the bibliography, I certify that I am the sole author of the thesis submitted today entitled

‘Across lands forlorn: The epic journey of the hero from Homer to Chandler.’

I further certify that to the best of my knowledge the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.

The material in this thesis has not been the basis of an award of any other degree or diploma except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.

This thesis complies with University requirements for a thesis as set out in http://www.canberra.edu.au/secretariat/goldbook/forms/thesisrqmt. pdf

…………………………. Signature of Candidate

…………………………. Signature of Chair of the supervisory panel

Date: ……………………………. Acknowledgements

I acknowledge a number of people who have helped with the realization of this thesis which was begun at the University of New England. Professor Peter Toohey, before he left that University, listened to my ideas about the hero and encouraged me to develop them into this thesis. I am most grateful to him for the confidence he placed in my abilities to conduct a complex study. At the University of New England, Professor John Ryan was my principal supervisor. Dr Charles Tesoriero, my co-supervisor, provided invaluable assistance, criticism and advice on the classical literature sections particularly, and on the overall thesis as well. He also offered friendship and his untimely passing is acknowledged for the tragedy that it was: vale Charles! I am also thankful for the encouragement provided by Professor Greg Horsely and Professor Ron Bedford, also from the University of New England. Dr. Trish Payne of the University of Canberra was the first of many who made me welcome at that University. Professor Jen Webb read the first draft and saw merit in persevering with the work, her encouragement was much appreciated. An excellent supervisor was found for me, Dr. Greg Battye and it was he who helped to give the thesis its present shape and who ensured that this study saw the light of day. I express my sincere gratitude to him and to Dr. Jordan Williams for their incisive comments and for insisting on rigour and on meticulous research. I am indebted to them also for the kindness and patience they showed me. Every one at the University of Canberra has been kind and has always provided help, particularly Louise Cooper in the Library. I am grateful towards my parents, Antonino and Eleonora Sergi who read me tales of heroes when I was very young; Pecos Bill still lives in my imagination. I was inspired by the many boys to whom I taught Latin, who never failed to be moved by the heroism of the aquilifer of Caesar’s Legion at the landing at Deal. I dedicate this thesis to my wife Leigh Stewart Sergi who is the sine qua non of anything worthwhile in my life. She is truly conjunx dilectissima. Sergio Sergi Armidale and Canberra

ii Across lands forlorn: the epic journey of the hero

from Homer to Chandler.

CHAPTER OUTLINES Preface: Niccolo Machiavelli described men not as they should be but as they are. The character of the hero in the Western epic is the exact opposite. This fictional creation of classical antiquity has provided a mould into which each succeeding generation has poured its aspirations and ideals. The epic hero has endured for two principal reasons: first, he serves a moral didactic purpose, he shows men as they could be. Secondly, the hero helps us escape from our imperfect world to a golden age full of enchantment, hope, and promise where we learn self-trust, the very essence of heroism.

CHAPTER I: Introduction; Naming the Parts • This is a military expression for labeling the component parts of a weapon after it has been disassembled. The term is appropriate for describing the nomenclature of the language of epic and its essential component, the hero. The methodology for the presentation of the material contained in this study is outlined in the ‘Preface’. • The following terms are glossed: hero; knight; private eye; adventurer; champion; outsider; epic; quest; bounty; onomastics /pedigree; nostos /nostalgia; ruina; ubi sunt and the heroic imagination. • What is the purpose in the Western tradition of writing epics with the hero at their centre? The two types of epic, primary and secondary are considered. Excluded from the discussion are, • (a) epics not part of the Western tradition, such as the horse epics of the Mongols, as this is not a comparative study but one that follows a sequence of epics in one tradition. • (b) drama: the link between the two genres is noted (Aristotle). However, the hero is presented on stage by his actions rather than by his ‘voice’. In addition, the genre is vast and thus merits its own analysis of the representation of the hero. There is some mention of the

iv representation of some heroes in Greek classical drama because of its proximity with epic such as using the same characters as those in epic. • Films are included principally to show the effect of the transformations of epic stories from the original mode of communication of the oral/printed to a visual mode. Also discussed are several ‘performances’ by actors, thus delineating the presentation for audiences of a specific hero ,e.g. Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe. • Focus for the geographic location of these epics is on Greece, Rome, Western Europe, and the U.S.A. as these are the cornerstones of the western literary tradition. • Explanation of the social /cultural/moral context for the key texts. ( Iliad/ Odyssey; Aeneid; Le Morte DArthur; the Philip Marlowe novels of Raymond Chandler.) • Identification of the distinct literary genres: Greek, Roman, Late Mediaeval, Modern. • Also examined are concepts of masculinity; benefit for society, the safe haven, patriotism/patriarchy; gender bias; honour; moral conflict (earthly/divine).Epic as a microcosm of human existence. • Audience: males ‘reading’ from a masculine stance within the context of actual historical heroes. The Iliad may be read as an expression of the futility of war and of the warrior as hero. • Epics as part of the formal education of males. • Conflict between Hero and King. Have all the physically challenging adventures been done? While space travel relies on technology, the Apollo13 mission was saved with a slide rule and human ingenuity. • Women in epic, wives and mothers of heroes; Psyche as ‘hero.’ • Foils to the domestic woman; femme fatale, sorceress, temptress.

CHAPTER II: From Force to Cunning: how the warrior became a leader. (Achilles) Part a), i Homeric epic • The Iliad; focus on Achilles; Odysseus and Aeneas introduced. The nature of epic and of its hero. • Part a), ii Proud-hearted Achilles • Characteristics of the hero and the concepts of honour and glory in the epics of antiquity. How the construct of the hero as character has become the template for the ideal of the male

v • Part b), the code and combat. • Weapons, tactics, and the fighting style of the hero. • Part c), Kings and Captains, Greek and Trojan. Heroes and their foils • Part d), The hero’s women • Women as adjuncts to the hero. (Helen; Andromache; Thetis; Brisseis.) • Patriarchy as a social mores. The absent father; father substitutes, mentors, significant male friendships; agape. • Part e), Άριστεία (aristeia) • Ceremonies, the expression of grief, Funeral Games. The culture of shame (aidos), the effects of the code of the hero (aristeia).

CHAPTER III: From Rage to Duty; how the chieftain became a statesman (Odysseus.) • The focus on Odysseus and the quest motif; nostos; cunning; curiosity, maturity. Telemachus as tyro, a hero in waiting. • Variations of the hero; feasting, the Bard, the end of grieving. • Women: Penelope, Calypso, Nausicaa; slaves/serving women • Transformation of the epic and the hero, how Odysseus becomes Ulysses.

CHAPTER IV: From antiquity to Christianity: how Aeneas became Arthur. Part a), the Trojan Prince. • The precursors and the heirs of Virgil. Ennius, Navius, Lucan, Silus Italicus, the hero in the Georgics. • Aeneid; focus on Aeneas and Turnus, responsibility for the homeland, the warrior as statesman. • Aeneas as Homeric and as Virgilian epic hero. The metamorphosis of Aeneas into Arthur. The political usefulness of the hero. • Dido and Lavinia. • Part b), The Matter of Arthur • The precursors of Malory.

vi • The harvesting of the Arthur material by Malory and his writing of an ‘Arthuriad’ • The Winchester Manuscript and William Caxton’s version of 1485. The concept of worthies. The Morte, Episodes of a unified tale or separate ‘Works’?

CHAPTER V: From King to Gentle: how the hero and the king are in conflict (Arthur and Lancelot). • Sir Thomas Malory’s heroic imagination; the characteristics of the Christian hero in Malory’s writings. • The shift in focus from Arthur to Lancelot as the hero. Conflict between hero and king. • The characteristics of heroism and chivalry explored through secondary characters (Gawaine, Bors, Galahad et al.) • The effect of printed versus the manuscript versions of the Morte on audiences. Didactic purpose ‘to do good and leave off evil’. The ‘faire ladies’; Guinevere as a protagonist in the Morte. Morgan le Fay and Elaine.

CHAPTER VI: From Gentle to Champion; How the epic was revived (Milton to Tennyson) • Transformations briefly mentioned. El Cid, Chanson de Roland, Beowulf (1815 in Old English) the Anglo Saxon and Icelandic epic sagas. The Babylonian Gilgamesh. • Decline of the Epic/Rise of the novel, exploration as the new quest; Neo Classical Models ; Faerie Queene and Red Cross knight • Roger Ascham’s opprobrium of Malory’s Morte. • Picaresque anti-hero from Spain (Don Quixote) to England (Tom Jones). • Milton returns to Virgil. Heroism in Paradise Lost • 19th Century, Dante Gabriel Rosetti; William Morris; Swinburne. Tennyson Idylls of the King (Arthur as a Victorian Christian gentleman);Odysseus rehabilitated as Ulysses.(1885) • Classics in the Public Schools, Muscular Christianity.

CHAPTER VII: From Adventurer to Sportsman; how the Hero became Popular. Part One; The adventurer. • Writing for adolescents; from Biggles to Flashman, James Bond, the Byronic hero as man of action.

vii • Imitations, Cliff Hardy, the Female Private Investigator. The P.I. as barbarian, unscrupulous, violent, motivated by gain, own code of behaviour, no permanent loyalties only temporary alliances. Desire for trophies, (money, women) and for exerting power over others. • Lasting appeal to audiences in both democratic and authoritarian societies. • Part Two; The sportsman. • The Olympic Games, sporting heroes ancient and modern. • Part Three; The popular hero. • The folk hero, including in Australia. • Heroes are the men we wish to be or we wish would live in our world to keep us safe. Atavism of violence • We don’t need another hero, We just want to know the way home. sung by Tina Turner in the film ‘Mad Max’ (1979).

CHAPTER VIII: From Old to New world: how the hero came to America. • Why the hero made the transatlantic journey. The new society needed heroes and used the traditional ones as a model for its own version in a ‘frontier’ context. • Interpretations of Arthur (comic) Twain and (serious) Steinbeck, (musical) Camelot, ‘a place where dreams come true’. • The hero portrayed as Everyman. The ‘leatherstocking’ rugged individual of the Frontier. The move West, Zane Grey (cowboy as hero): Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan). • Hard boiled, ‘pulp’ fiction. Dashiell Hammett (Sam Spade, the Continental Op) and the ‘Black Mask’ predecessors of Marlowe.

• CHAPTER IX: From Buckskin to powder blue suit, how the hero moved West. (Philip Marlowe) • Marlowe as the apotheosis of the warrior and the knight errant. The knight in shining armor walks the mean streets of Los Angeles. • Character study of Marlowe based on episodes in his quest(the novels) • Women as sirens and fatal attractions.

viii • The representation of Marlowe by Hollywood; Humphrey Bogart: Robert Mitchum; Eliot Gould.

Chapter X: Conclusion; how the warrior became a soldier, the hero’s continuing struggle. • From warrior to soldier, the perception of men at arms, the overlap between the real combatant and the portrayal of that character in fiction: the hero’s struggle continues. • Key questions revisited with conclusions. Men seek approval of those they respect; Dear Mistress, do I labour to good purpose? Sophocles has Odysseus ask his protectress, the goddess Pallas Athena.

ix TABLE OF CONTENTS

Thy Lord is the most bounteous who teaches by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not. Surah al-Alaq 96:3-5, ‘Holy Koran’.

Abstract of Thesis

Preface

Chapter I Introduction; ‘Naming the Parts’

Chapter II From βίη to μητις1: how the warrior became a leader. (Achilles) Chapter III From furor to pietas2: how the chieftain became a statesman. (Odysseus) Chapter IV From antiquity to Christianity: how Aeneas became Arthur.

Chapter V From King to Gentle: how the hero and the king conflict. (Arthur and Lancelot)

Chapter VI From Gentle to Champion: how the epic hero was revived.

Chapter VII From Adventurer to Sportsman: how the hero became popular

Chapter VIII From the Old to the New World: how the hero came to America . Chapter IX From buckskins to powder blue suit: how the hero moved West. (Philip Marlowe)

Chapter X Conclusion: how the warrior became a soldier, the hero’s continuing struggle.

Bibliography

Appendices

1 From biē to metis, force to cunning 2 From rage to duty

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iv ABSTRACT

All human beings by nature desire knowledge- Aristotle Metaphysics 980.I

This thesis examines the characteristics of the hero principally as portrayed in epic, from the oral compositions of antiquity via the printed word of the past to the visual representation of the present. The texts examined are from the Western Canon of epics.

Epic is taken to refer to a collection of stories that show a character on a quest which consists of a number of episodic adventures. Thus drama, with its focus on action on stage rather than on the projection of character onto the audience’s imagination, is mostly excluded from this study. It is acknowledged, nevertheless, that drama and epic have much in common in the portrayal of the construct termed ‘hero’. The hero in each of the texts under scrutiny is male, thus female characters and ‘heroines’ are not discussed in any detail unless they are directly connected with the hero and their lives are affected by the hero’s code of behaviour. Also excluded are epics from other cultures except for those mentioned briefly to illustrate the universality of the appeal of the epic and of the hero. Film is discussed briefly and then only as a re-interpretation of existing epic material.

Aristotle categorizes epic as an imitation of life and so ‘real life’ heroes are at the periphery of the study but intrude at such times as their lives in turn imitate the ‘art’ of epic composition.

This thesis shows that the hero has appealed predominantly to male audiences for almost three millennia. Further, it demonstrates that this construct, the characterization of the hero, in essence, remains unchanged, that the modifications made by time and place are primarily cosmetic. Changes in the social class of audiences and in the method of transmission of the tales are taken into account as they affect the continued response to the hero.

x The discussion introduces the hero prototype, Achilles, it tracks the evolution of this character from Greece to Imperial Rome, to England and then, after the hero has crossed the Atlantic, it follows his trek from the forests of New England to the streets of Los Angeles where he becomes the archetype of the hero. The choice of heroes and of location is not arbitrary, although it does reflect a personal response to these works. The epics are linked by theme and by characters and the geographic locations reflect the needs of audiences in those places for the emotional comfort provided by the hero during times of change.

The subsets of the hero are variations on a theme and not distinctly different representations of the hero construct. These include the popular hero, often referred to as the ‘folk’ hero, the adventurer and the sportsman; some of these heroes are real, others could well be.

Finally, the nature of the soldier, real and fictional, is examined to show the connexion with the warrior. Modern soldiers, volunteers who regard themselves as members of the elite brotherhood of the profession of arms, have much in common with the Homeric warrior and so the argument of this thesis comes full circle.

The conclusion reaffirms the existence of an unbroken thread that links the hero through time and place, it confirms that this genre of epic and hero is an imitation of the real and it positions this hero-construct into the collective imagination of males.

xi ACROSS LANDS FORLORN: THE EPIC JOURNEY OF THE HERO, FROM HOMER TO CHANDLER

The Epic hero in Western Literature as an enduring rôle model of masculinity.

PREFACE

Epic Narrative. It is usually supposed to be heroick, or to contain one great action achieved by the hero. Dr Samuel Johnson, Dictionary definition.

The aim of this study is to shed some light on the hero in epic, to determine whether this genre is essentially masculine literature and to ascertain whether this construct of a character retains certain characteristics through the passage of time and through changes in geographic location. A working definition of epic is provided by Peter Toohey, ‘a long narrative written in hexameters (or a comparable vernacular measure) which concentrates either on the fortunes of a great hero or perhaps a great civilization and the interaction of this hero and this civilization with the gods.’1To achieve this aim there are four fundamental areas to explore.

First, who is he? What was the prototype and how much of it remains in today’s fictional hero? Is he a protagonist or a narrator of the tale? Is he superior to all others in his tale, friends and foes? What is his voice, is he fluent or muted? Does he change by growing in self awareness or does he remain ignorant of himself and of his condition?

Secondly, what is the significance of his actions and what remarkable feats does he perform? Are they significant in their intensity, their physicality and most importantly,

1 Peter Toohey ‘Reading Epic, An Introduction to the Ancient Narratives’ Routledge, London &New York 1992. Page 5

1 are they respected? What agency is at work that brings about the mission, the quest and the return home? What motivates the hero? Does he still provide an important rôle model for masculinity across time and cultures; do his deeds have any currency for today’s audiences and do they engage their interest? Does he have verisimilitude or is he seen merely as a fictional construct?

Thirdly, where can he be found? Is he present only in the tales woven in the mists of antiquity among exotic surroundings or is our world also a place where heroes can walk among us? Does real life imitate the artistic interpretation of the hero?

Finally, why has he been appropriated from one context to another; how has the mode of transmission been transformed from oral to written to visual means of communication and dissemination? Why is he so enduring that tales of his deeds have been retold continuously for three millennia and he has survived the fall of at least two civilizations? As Dominic Stefanson2 so pointedly asks, ‘Why is it that since Homer told tales of magnificent men and called these men heroes, the siren song of heroic achievement has been impossible to resist?’

The context of the composition of any work and of the response to it, including this study, is determined by a range of conditions including the personal, social and cultural forces at work on both the composer and the audience. The stance of the author therefore is relevant to the type of reading that the chosen texts receive in this study. An explanation is needed as to why particular texts were selected as the core of this study and how these works help to explain the fascination with the hero.

My childhood and adolescence were spent in a male orientated environment. My education was exclusively in male schools and presented by male teachers, specifically, fifteen years under the educational care of the Jesuit Fathers. I lived in men’s colleges at university, where I encountered my first female teacher only during postgraduate studies. During my working life of more than forty years, I have very seldom worked with

2 Dominic Stefanson ‘Man as Hero-Hero as Citizen’ Ph.D. thesis Adelaide University 2004.

2 women as colleagues. My primary intellectual formation has had a strong patristically theological, patriarchal and classical orientation; hence the abiding interest in the male hero. The last decade of my working life was spent in the education of adolescent males. I was struck by their unswerving preference for masculine rôle models in literature and in films and their resistance to the presentation of any other type of material. The bias and lack of balance created in males is acknowledged. However, the purpose of the study is not an attempt to redress the balance but to examine the contents of the epic stories of heroes which form the staple fare of males and to follow the fortunes of this character through space and time to the present. This explanation for my male oriented interest in the literature written by men for masculine audiences demonstrates my stance and the type of reading that is accorded to the texts under consideration. These works have been readily available or in print continually since they first appeared and today can be obtained in virtually every European language and in a variety of formats, from paperback to deluxe editions. The history of the epic hero is the history of men and particularly of what men believe it is to be a man.

Thomas Van Nortwick puts this justification much more eloquently in the preface to his work on ancient epics.3 He says that any such study of necessity deals primarily with the experiences of males and given the material, it could hardly have been otherwise. He continues by saying that what such an analysis reveals about human nature may be applicable to all humans.

Self-realization as it appears in these works is not necessarily peculiar to the male way of looking at the world. Nevertheless, these heroes are men and their fictive lives are not always germane in helping us understand how women make their way in the world….. These works deal with certain universal dilemmas common to males as they try to grow up.

He concludes this part of his justification by saying

3 Thomas Van Nortwick ‘Somewhere I Have Never Travelled; the Second Self and the Hero’s Journey in Ancient Epic’. Oxford University Press 1992 pages 6 and 7

3 I make no pretence to objective detachment in this study. I also hope that my prejudices and preoccupations do not distort the works nor make my analysis so private that it is of no use to anyone else. I have loved these stories because of experiences in my life dealing with death and change.

I concur. The works I have chosen for my study have assisted me in dealing with struggles and with change since I began reading them in juvenile versions as a boy and later in their original forms as a man.

The rationale for the choice of works4 and of the particular characters within these works for this study requires elucidation. Achilles was chosen as he was the first rounded presentation of this type of the hero as a character in fiction. Odysseus and Aeneas are introduced to audiences in the ‘Iliad’ and subsequently become the central figure in their own epic. Aeneas, due to his ‘pietas’, his devotion to men and gods, is metamorphosed into a Christian leader in the Matter of Arthur. This character trait is at the core of the personality of the heroes in the Arthurian tales. The success or otherwise of these heroes depends on their level of adherence not only to the code of honour of Homeric warriors but also to their obedience to the will of a superior power, a Christian God.

It would have been possible to limit this study within the geographical boundaries of Western Europe and to follow epics in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany and France up until the point when the epic becomes the novel, as it did in England. However, the hero was present in the collective imagination of the New World almost from the first stirrings of Western culture in that Continent. The Founding Fathers were educated in Classical literature and as it will be seen later in Chapter VIII of this study, the move of this hero across the Atlantic reflects the response that the relocated Europeans had to this character in the very first works of the imagination produced in the New World. They felt a need for tales of men who would calmly face travails and endure until their community was made safe. The knight-errant of Europe became the Frontiersman of the plains and forests of America, the ‘freelance’ who served and protected his community.

4 ‘Iliad’, ‘Odyssey’, ‘Aeneid’, ‘Le Morte DArthur’, the Philip Marlowe Saga.

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In examining such an enduring and complex character as the hero a perimeter needs to be drawn around the topic. First, the focus initially is placed primarily on the warrior hero of the hegemonic, patriarchal male society, which has dominated Western culture and power structures for several thousand years. This particular creation is the hero of epic tales. Other types of heroes, fictional and real, serve as comparison and these include the trickster, the adventurer, the romantic and the sportsman each one a ‘subset’ of the epic hero. This figure also is tracked through time and across cultures. After his journey from the Old World to the New, he remains unbeaten and unbowed and, most significantly, unchanged.

Given the journey that is required, it is perhaps appropriate to use an analogy based on naval architecture to outline the structure of this study, that of constructing an Homeric neos eise (νηος ειση), a ‘well-trimmed ship.’ This analogy delineates the twin axes of the study: the vertical one, the ‘keel’, is the chronological sequence of the works of epic. The horizontal ones, the ‘ribs’ are the individual works inserted at the appropriate date in the vertical axis.

First, the chronology of the composition of each of the works discussed provides the ‘keel’ to which the ‘ribs’ are attached in turn, each representing a portrayal of the hero. The chronology begins by placing the ‘prow’ in antiquity, under the walls of Troy, and this ‘keel’ ends at the ‘stern’ of modernity. Starting at the prow, the separate discussions of Achilles, of Odysseus and of Aeneas form three weight –bearing ‘ribs’ attached to this antique section of the keel. Of what stuff is Achilles made? What modifications are made to Odysseus? How is the minor figure of Aeneas in the ‘Iliad’ crafted by Virgil into a veritable bulwark of a hero?

The next section of the keel stretches from antiquity to the Late Middle Ages, with a few planks provided by Silver Age epic poets to laminate the join through time. The next ‘rib’ to be attached is another major structural one, dealing with Arthur and another with

5 Lancelot. The two ‘ribs’ at first are merely opposite one another but gradually they begin to work in opposition, revealing that the change from Monarch and Vassal to King and Hero is one involving conflict.

The next linking section of the ‘keel’ provides the foundation for less important, but nevertheless structurally significant ‘ribs’ to be attached. These include Spenser’s Red Cross Knight, Milton’s Lucifer/Satan and several European heroes such as Don Quixote and El Cid. Two works from another age but available only in the early 19th century (‘Gilgamesh’ and ‘Beowulf’) are also added to the keel at this point. A weighty ‘rib’ dealing with the revival of the Matter of Arthur is put into place at this stage with care and devotion by Tennyson.

This phase of working on the ‘keel’ provided by the movement of the epic through time is followed by a modification of the material used in its construction, namely there is a development in genre, the epic is replaced by the novel and verse turns to prose. The texture of the material stays pretty much the same, only the outward appearance and form have changed.

Before the ‘keel’ is dragged across the Atlantic for completion, a few more ‘ribs’ are attached to it. They represent in turn the adventurer as well as the sportsman, both the contestant on the Plain of Olympia and the one at Homebush Bay: the fields of contest are different but the adulation and adoration for this type of hero is unchanged. The hero as Everyman ,the darling of the masses and the hero of folk tales forms the final ‘rib’ of this section of the ‘keel’ which is now ready for its transatlantic journey.

As the matter of Arthur is unloaded in America, a couple of ‘ribs’ are added by Steinbeck and Twain giving a New World finish to the Old World material. The keel of European timbers is extended at this point with hardwood from the New England forests, the home of the ‘Leatherstocking’ hero who provides another structural ‘rib’.

6 It is in California that the final section of the ‘keel’ is added and the last solid ‘rib’ attached to it, one depicting a hero in a powder-blue suit with additional lamination lent by Sam Spade and the Continental Op.

The well-curved ship (νηος κυανοπρορος) neos kyanoproros is thus ready to be launched in the wine-dark sea of the collective male imagination. On deck are today’s heroes, soldiers, paid by Parliaments not by Kings, but these men, when they look into the refracting mirror of time, see the faces of warriors.5

The methodology for this study is a close examination of each text to extract the treatment each work gives to the characterization of the figure of the hero. The image of each hero in turn, starting with that of Achilles, is superimposed with the ‘transparency’ of the next hero and thus a composite image of the archetypal hero emerges. It will be seen that the changes are only at the margins of the fundamental character and thus it will be concluded that the hero construct remains essentially as created almost twenty-seven centuries ago.

As the heroes are displayed in turn (Achilles, Odysseus, Aeneas, Arthur/Lancelot and Marlowe), it can be observed there is a hero type and Joseph Campbell6 goes so far as to espouse the Jungian view that humans (or at least males) are predisposed to respond to such archetypes. Further, Campbell argues that the hero of myth, folklore and legend, all of which are at the core of epic, is the most recognized in all cultures and has the most impact on males.

5 For example, the Valkyries of Germanic sagas are cloud-borne warriors. The March of the Royal Parachute Regiment is the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ by Richard Wagner. The Ghost Riders in the Sky are not warriors, but cowboys who chase the Devil’s herd of cattle through eternity. It is an example of what is termed ‘fakelore’, a folk tale set in the past but composed in contemporary times. The Ghost Riders was a song written in 1948 by an American, Stan Jones. (It shows similarities with the Wild Hunt of Scandinavian Folklore). At least forty different artists have recorded the song since it was written and it remains in the U.S. one of the most popular ‘country and western’ songs of all time. (deenotes.homestead.com/ghost.html.) Another ‘fakelore’ hero is Pecos Bill (referred to in the ‘Acknowledgements’). He was a comic book character drawn by the American Edward O’Reilly in 1923.(www.americanfolklore.net/pecosbill.html) 6 Joseph Campbell ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ first published by Princeton University Press in 1949. The edition used in this study is the Fontana Press, 1993. (Page 4.) See below for a detailed discussion of Campbell’s ideas.

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This view of the similarity of the hero across cultures is shared by such prominent scholars of epic as Eugene Vinaver, Roger Sherman Loomis, Lord Raglan the 4th Baron, 7and C.M. Bowra. A review of current scholarship on the hero provides further substantiation to the main premise of the thesis namely that there is a recognizable figure of the hero and that he endures. What is significant about the present direction of commentary on this subject is that it is in line with the views of past scholars. John M. Reilly8, for example, confirms the premise of this thesis that the hero is derived from a prototype from the past and that any changes to this character’s persona are cosmetic and minor and serve merely to make them ‘modern heroes’ thus ‘their adventures are the objects of our current aspirations.’

Much of the current research follows the transformation of the character of the elite warrior from the page to the screen as well as the ‘reduction’ of the hero from a super individual to a mere mortal and indeed to even members of the animal kingdom. Richard Gilman9 has written an amusing but nevertheless plausible comparison of the characters in ‘Watership Down’ by Richard Adams and those of Homer: Bigwig has Ajax’s strength, for example.

There is a great deal of material on the hero in folklore, but although this variant of the hero merits a mention in a later Chapter, the folk hero lies outside the perimeter of this study. This is not only due to its complexity, variety and the different characteristics it possesses but also because folk tales as a genre are closer to fairy tales than they are to the epic.

Women are not given extensive treatment in this study, but two aspects of female characters in epic are noted. The female in epic is not a ‘heroine’ in the commonly

7 Lord Raglan ‘The Hero, a Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama.’ Methuen & Co. London, 1936. Raglan was the great grandson of the man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade, immortalized in Tennyson’s eponymous poem. See also appendices for Raglan’s ‘The Hero Pattern.’ 8 John M. Reilly entry on ‘Heroism’ in Rosemary Herbert ed. ‘The Oxford Companion to Crime and Mystery Writing’ New York and Oxford O.U.P.1999. See also David Geberin ‘The Birth of the Hero; the American Private Eye’ in Chapter VIII ‘The Hero comes to America’. 9 Richard Gilman ‘The Rabbits’ Iliad and Odyssey, ‘New York Times’ Review of Books, 24 March 1974.

8 accepted ‘Amazonian’10 meaning of the word, that is, a female version of the male. Rather the epic heroine is a person closely associated with the hero as a wife or as a mother and as someone who must endure the effects on her life of the hero’s αριστέια, (aristeia) the code of the warrior. Women are either ‘saints’- protective mothers, patient wives- or ‘sinners’- sirens who attempt to lure the hero to his doom or to place a stumbling block in his epic quest. A woman is either completely dependent on the hero and in return for his protection provides him with a successor, or she is a fatal attraction who wants to lure him to his doom. In some contemporary tales of detection, she has become a sort of parody,11 a female version of the hero; she may have prowess but as she is not a member of the masculine warrior elite, she lacks what Aristotle terms ‘grandeur’.12 Mostly, however, women in epic are unhappy because they give love in a world where love is not enough.

The works that are at the centre of this study are epics and they are the cornerstones of Western culture: the two in Greek began as oral verse epics while the others were published in ‘book’ form. One of the results to emerge from this study is that the epic format transcends culture and time and it is in essence sui generis. For example, ‘Beowulf’, ‘Gilgamesh’, ‘The Golden Horde’, the Tay Nguyen epics of the Highlands of Vietnam, all share remarkable similarities of character, theme and fantastical settings, all centre on the hero protagonist and each was composed independently of the others and uninfluenced by the principal epics used in this study.

10 The ancients had a fascination with Amazons who are mentioned by both Homer and Virgil in their epics. Perhaps this is because of the penchant for combining symmetry and alternatives. The Amazons are without breast (α μαζος) a mazos and are chaste. In contrast, the Centaurs, who have no female of their species, are ever lustful. Achilles’ tutor is a Centaur. 11 These include the female ’private eye’ such as V.I.Warchowski in the novels of Sara Paretsky or the Claudia Valentine stories by Marele Day whose first novel opens with a deliberate parody of the ‘tough guy’ genre except that the sexually available person is this case is revealed to be a male, a ‘blond’, no ’e’. 12 In ‘The Female Hero in American and British Literature’ by Carol Pearson and Catherine Pope, (New York and London R.R. Booker and Co 1982) concern is expressed about the oppression of women in a patriarchal society and that this real social problem is reflected in fiction. The work focuses on novels and hence is outside the scope of this study. Nevertheless, Pope and Pearson display a measure of optimism about the state of current writing on female heroes as it shows the positive human potentialities of both sexes.

9 Each society, from the autocratic to the democratic makes adjustments at the margin to its portrayal of the hero, but it is the golden thread of epic which links the hero to the quest, a tale that this study shows has enduring appeal for males: ‘In dreams we are heroes, waking we invent them’.13

All the readings for this topic are from a masculine point of view and the discussion relies on the apparatus of what is termed as ‘second phase gender’ studies. The first phase was the feminist movement that sought to overturn legal obstacles to inequality, and not just based on gender but on race, religion and age. The second phase, discussed by Barbara Finlay,14 looked at the de facto inequalities, including those in literature and examined rebellion against various manifestations of patriarchy. Epic is replete with these tensions as the hero is ultimately in conflict with the king. The thesis looks at characters that embody the nature of hegemonic masculinity, and at what constitutes the stereotype of the dominant male, namely, one that has power over other men, over women and over his enemies. The ancient myths of the warrior provide what has been termed earlier, a ‘template’ for this character from prototypes in antiquity such as Achilles and Aeneas to the stereotype of the ‘present’ such as the hero as an exceptional Everyman, Philip Marlowe. In social terms, at the level of reality versus fiction, the warrior has been metamorphosed, at least outwardly, into the soldier.

Conforming to Homeric epic tradition, in the battle to justify the longevity of the epic hero and its relevance to a 21st century audience, the Muse must be invoked. The chief Muse is Aristotle who examined the hero and the epic and laid out the fundamental theoretical basis of the hero/myth genre. A lesser Muse is Carl Jung whose notion of archetypes has greatly influenced scholars of myth. Jung states15

13 Lee R. Edwards ‘Psyche as Hero: Female Heroism and Fictional Form’ Wesleyan University Press, Middletown Connecticut 1984. 14Barbara Finlay ‘Before the Second Wave; Gender in the Sociological Tradition’ (Texas A&M University 2006) 15 Carl Gustav Jung ‘Man and His Symbols’. Windfall Books Doubleday and Company Inc. Garden City New York 1964. Page 12.

10 The hero myth ‘originated’ at a period when man did not yet know that he possessed a hero myth, that is to say, in an age when he did not consciously reflect on what he was saying. The hero figure is an archetype that has existed since time immemorial.

Once established in men’s consciousness, the universal hero myth, Jung claims

…always refers to the powerful man who vanquishes evil in the form of monsters and liberates his people from destruction and death. This veneration of the hero liberates the ordinary man, at least temporarily, from his personal impotence and misery and this conviction can sustain him for a long time and give a certain style to his life.

Perhaps the best stories in antiquity were discovered by chance rather than by the craft or skill or art of the poet/creator. Regardless of whether the creation of the character of the hero was the result of instinct rather than skill, τέχνη 16(techne), poets, Aristotle contends, must be able to project themselves into the emotions of others and the result of this projection is pleasurable for the audience.17 In the ‘Nicomachean ‘Ethics’ (1174b14- 5a21), Aristotle had already discussed that humans derive pleasure from the act of recognition. Aristotle defines ‘recognition’ as a change from ignorance to knowledge. We recognize the character of the hero in a story because his portrayal imitates18the likeness of a ‘real’ hero (or one from another story that is familiar) who is already known to us. It is this characteristic, the imitation of reality, which has power over audiences. In the case of Marlowe, for example, we recognize both his ‘tough guy’ style and his ‘voice’ and thus we are encouraged to share his outlook on society.

16 Aristotle (384B.C.E-322 B.C.E.) disciple of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great (an admirer of the ‘Iliad’). The ‘Poetics’ was probably written as lecture notes. Art or skill, hence ‘technology’, the study of skill. 17 Poet ποιητης (poietes), one who makes, in Greek to denote the composer of a poem, the interpreter was a rhapsode. The word ‘poet’ was not used in English until 1530. 18 Μίμησις (mimesis) imitation with the modern suggestion of mimicking some one’s behaviour.

11 Furthermore, we are familiar with three broad plots of epic as they are similar to those of tragedy, according to Aristotle. The first deals with hubris19, the sin of pride; the second is discardation or the sense of loss and the third is a desire for a new order, with the hero as the agent of change.20 The hero is successful only when he overcomes pride and learns some form of compassion and humility. The true greatness of Achilles is shown by his treatment of Priam, that of Aeneas by his attitude towards the defeated followers of Turnus and Lancelot’s by his contrition and his penance thereby achieving eternal salvation. Marlowe believes that he can make a difference in his world by his actions; he fails yet he swallows his pride, continues to remain true to his ideals and embarks on another quest.

Epic also conforms to the Aristotelian definition of a complex plot, namely one that involves a power shift in the course of the action and that also involves recognition leading to self-knowledge. All the heroes in this discussion experience a power shift and have an epiphany of self-knowledge.21

Poetry, in Aristotle’s view, is imitation in rhythmical language and it is pleasurable because Aristotle believes that human beings have an instinct for its charms.22All the works in this study provide greater pleasure for an audience when they are read aloud. Thus poems from the earliest times have recounted the glorious deeds of some god or hero with admiration. ‘Epic is imitation in verse of admirable people’23

Homer earns Aristotle’s praise because he intrudes as a ‘person’ as little as possible, letting the characters speak for themselves through his use of direct speech. First and foremost, Aristotle sees epic as a pendant of tragedy .The difference between epic and

19 Ϋβρις is any extreme behaviour, physical assault, wantonness, insolence, violence. 20 All the principal heroes in this study deal with all three aspects of the plots of epic. Each indulges in extreme behaviour, each suffers great loss and each is an agent of change. 21 The other type of plot, the ‘simple’ one that is solely episodic, does not provide the opportunity for a power shift during the action which is linear. There may be some self-knowledge, as in the end of picaresque epics, but no power shift and no change wrought by the ‘hero’. Examples of this type of epic are the picaresque novels of the 18th century in Spain and England, such as ‘El Picaro’ and ‘Tom Jones’. 22 ‘Poetics’ Chapter 4 (429b 28f) 23 ‘Poetics’ Chapter 3.5

12 tragedy is that the former deals with character, the imitation of a person, while the latter focuses on the imitation of action.24The Marlowe stories are focused on character, with the plots often being mere ‘sets’ for the display of the character of the hero.

Aristotle further requires the ‘poet’ to produce pleasure that comes from the emotions of pity and fear, represented through imitation of real characters with whom the audience can identify to varying degrees. The cleansing, purifying process (sometimes referred to as ‘catharsis’) of the experience of epic and tragedy has beneficial effects on the audience and is, paradoxically, pleasurable. Pity and fear are forms of distress but Aristotle rightly does not seek to explain a paradox that is in the realm of the psychologist rather than that of a literary critic.

The characters who are objects of imitation serve as rôle models because of their nobility and desirable virtues and attributes. Women in epic should be ‘good’ and demonstrate only those virtues appropriate to a woman such as restraint and self-control and fidelity to their hero/husband. Heroes have no daughters and no sisters.25 There are no women warriors in epic and women who are involved in conflict use the weapons of deceit and enchantment.

Aristotle devotes an entire chapter of the ‘Poetics’ to epic in which he discussed the merits of plot and praises Homer for his focus on self contained episodes (such as the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon) as a metaphor for the whole of the Trojan war. Similarly, the ‘Odyssey’ concentrates on the nostos, the homecoming of the hero in spite of all the adventurers that precede it, fantastical though they may be.

Aristotle proposes two main types of epic plot, those based on suffering (such as the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Aeneid’), those based on character, (such as the ‘Odyssey’, the ‘Morte’ and the Marlowe saga). The latter two epics make the characters pre eminent as they contain many ‘recognition’ scenes, many examples of antithesis between ‘good’ and the

24 ‘drama’ is from the Greek for something that has been done. 25 Arthur has two ‘half’ sisters who cause him no end of grief. See ChapterV

13 ‘bad’ and a conclusion which has a positive ending for the ‘worthy’ characters.26 This type of plot of epic contrasts with the ‘simple’ plot of the Iliad and the Aeneid which is an accumulation of episodes and which ends in suffering.

In epic, some irrationality of plot is tolerated mostly because the action is narrated, often in direct speech by one of the protagonists, but not seen, as in tragedy portrayed as drama. The audiences of Homer and of Chandler accept implausible events because such events are narrated by the hero with whom the audience identifies and trusts.27

Aristotle further states that irrationality generates astonishment and this gives pleasure. By implication, it is desirable for epic to exploit its greater tolerance, over that of tragic drama, of the irrational; the most enduring delights of the Odyssey are the fantastical voyages and adventures of its hero. In short, epic narrative achieves grandeur because of its diversity of episodes, by its use of a distinctive ‘voice’ for its characters and by its use of language that transcends the ordinary.

Another Muse for this study is Joseph Campbell who examined the hero as a cipher to explore man’s eternal struggle for identity.28 He codified the major elements of the hero and the myth and identified several types of heroes including such archetypes as Mentor, Threshold Guardian, Trickster and above all Warrior. The telling of the tale keeps a fine balance between the hero preserving the old ways and acting as an agent for change. At the end of his quest, the hero is always diminished in his own eyes and this act of humility is essential so that he may recognize those who preceded him and who were greater than himself. Campbell also follows the hero on his individual quest. He believes that the human brain, or at least the male one, is almost genetically

26 In the ‘Morte’ all the (good) characters are ‘saved’, in the case of Lancelot in a spectacular fashion as the Gates of Heaven are thrown open for him. Marlowe marries an heiress and while the marriage does not last, initially for Marlowe, ‘the air was full of music’. 27 An example of this is Odysseus being taken ashore at Ithaca from a ship without waking up. ‘Odyssey’ Book XIII lines 116-125. While it is highly improbable, it does have the effect of increasing the dramatic impact of the irony of Odysseus feeling forlorn on awakening whereas in fact, as the audience knows, he has reached home. In the case of Marlowe, he relates the death of Colonel Sternwood’s driver, yet that remains a mystery, one that even Chandler himself could not solve. 28 Joseph Campbell ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ Fontana Press, 1993 op. cit supra.

14 predisposed to respond to a twelve step plot line which communicates the hero’s story. These steps are: 1) The call to adventure. 2) The initial refusal, followed by a reluctant acceptance of the call. 3) The encouragement from the Mentor. 4) The departure. 5) Crossing the first threshold, defeat of minor opponents. 6) The supreme ordeal. 7) Rewards are earned, the geras (γεράς) or gift of honour. 8) The return home, nostos (νοστος) 9) The renewal, resurrection. 10) The triumph, acknowledgement by others 11) The ultimate prize 12) Knowledge.

It should be noted that very few epics and indeed myths, contain all of these stages. Campbell postulates that significant myths in a variety of cultures over thousands of years share a common fundamental structure which he calls a monomyth29.One of the influential writers for Campbell was James Joyce. His Ulysses, a modern epic of Everyman as hero, uses the Odyssey as a template, but it is from Finnegans Wake that Campbell borrowed the term ‘monomyth’.30

Campbell also relied on 20th century theorists to develop his model of the hero; Freud for the Oedipus complex; Jung for the archetypal figure and Van Gennep for the rites of passage. He was also influenced by the ethnographer James Frazer’s ‘Golden Bough’.31 In the final decade of the 20th century, a number of scholars have been critical of Campbell with accusations ranging from sloppy scholarship to being anti Semitic.32

29 He encapsulates this concept thus ‘A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men.’ 30 Campbell was a noted scholar of the works of James Joyce, e.g. he co-authored ’A Skeleton Key to ‘Finnegans Wake’ (1944) with Henry Morton Robinson. 31 See Book VI of the Aeneid’ for the use of the Golden Bough by Aeneas to gain access to the underworld.

15 Campbell was also accused of not analyzing entire myths, preferring to focus only on themes and archetypes. Also, Campbell did not acknowledge sufficiently theorists in his field and discussed the similarities between myths rather than their differences. Also, he was regarded as being critical of established religions.33 Coralee Grebe has written a cogent defence of Campbell,34 pointing out that there are no instances of anti-Semitism in Campbell’s works and that Gill’s comments were based on a public lecture where he heard Campbell state that he preferred the theories of Jung over those of Freud. Grebe also points out that Campbell taught for almost four decades at Sarah Lawrence College where a large proportion of the student body consisted of women, many of whom were Jews. The major criticism of Campbell is that in laying out the memory of the hero’s journey he is focused on the masculine journey. Later in life, Campbell had this to say in his own defence:

All of the great mythologies and much of mythic story telling of the world are from the male point of view. When I was writing ’The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ and wanted to bring female heroes in, I had to go to the fairy tales. These were told by women to children and you get a different perspective. It was the men who got involved in spinning most of the great myths. The women were too busy; they had too damn much to do to sit around thinking about stories.’ In the ‘Odyssey’, you’ll see three journeys. One is that of Telemachus, the son, going in quest of his father. The second is that of the father, Odysseus, becoming reconciled and related to the female principle, in the sense of male-female relationship, rather than the male mastery of the female that was at the center of the ‘Iliad’. And the third is Penelope herself, whose journey is endurance. Out in Nantucket, you’ll see all those cottages

32 Brendan Gill ’New York Review of Books’ Vol.36 Issue 14, 28th September 1989 p.16-19 33 Robert Segal ’Joseph Campbell on Jews and Judaism’ ‘Christian Century’ 4th April 1990 Vol 22 issue 2 p151-170 34 Coralee Grebe ’Bashing Joseph Campbell: Is he the hero of a thousand spaces?’ Mythlore 18.1 Autumn 1991 pages 50-52

16 with the widow’s walk up on the roof: when my husband comes back from the sea. Two journeys through space and one through time.35

Maureen Murdoch36 observed that the female in Campbell’s heroic cycle is defined as the hero’s feminine side rather than as a fully defined identity unto herself. Furthermore Murdoch notes, many successful women have patterned their careers on the male hero cycle and after achieving their goals, find that they have something that they don’t really want and that this feeling of disappointment applies equally to men.

‘For lust of knowing what should not be known we take the Golden Road to Samarkand’37 is often a motive for heroes to go on quests. The ‘road’ for this study leads to an examination of the validity of Campbell’s description of the hero and tests whether this character from the dawn of western civilization has any relevance for masculine identity in the twenty first century. The links in the narrative chain of the epic hero, principally as a warrior, are thus followed from antiquity to the modern incarnation of the heroic prototype. The hero’s inner needs compel him on a journey that takes him from the world of Homer to that of Marlowe and beyond to achieve self-actualization. This objective is at the top of the hero’s ‘Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’.38

The world of the hero is circumscribed by two boundaries, that of patriarchy and that of masculinity. These worlds are founded on competition and agon (άγον) struggle, man’s lot. The fictional world of the hero closely parallels that of the real world. It may be inhabited by one-eyed giants, water-nymphs and gods but physically it has a verisimilitude that is not found, for example, in the world of science fiction. The world of the epic has to appear ‘real’ so that the audience can visualize the locations described in the tale. The description of Circe’s island is replete with exaggerated magnificence but it is nevertheless, imaginable. In science fiction, in contrast, a possible world can exist as

35 David Hudler (Ed.) Joseph Campbell ‘Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation.’ Novato, California, New World Library, 2004 pp 145,159 36 Maureen Murdoch ‘The Heroine’s Journey’ Boston, Shambala 1990.Pages 47-48. 37 James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915) ‘The Golden Journey to Samarkand’ Epilogue part I 1913 38 See Appendices for a schematic representation of Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs as it pertains to the hero and for a graphic interpretation of Vogler’s ideas based on Campbell.

17 long as it meets the criteria of being logically consistent. Such a world does not need to be similar to the real world of the audience in order to be credible. Inconceivable worlds, such as that of 1984, by showing us a world that must never be, help to push back the possibility of it ever becoming real. It is Aristotle who reminds us that history has happened and that epic could happen. Epics also provide male audiences with a character who is something of an antidote for human cruelty, in a world where ‘nature is red in tooth and claw.’39 The hero lives and acts within the boundaries of the cultural context of his world, predicated as it is on a patriarchal power structure.

The fundamental desire of the audiences for these epic tales is one of transcendence. Jon Blumenfeld40 notes that the desire for it ‘runs like a deep current through the river of history.’ It is the desire to rise heroically above the mundane world of common occurrence in to a magical world of demons, heroes, gods and the possibility of redemption and salvation.41 He states that ‘there is no better window to this overwhelming need than the myth and hero stories that cut across all cultures repeating the same elements over and over’. Blumenfeld acknowledges that Campbell sought to reinstate the hero myth into popular culture and notes that the new medium of film created by Hollywood has done this for him.

This thesis does not seek to evaluate what Blumenfeld calls Campbell’s ‘pseudo historical analysis and pop-psychological terminology and his flowery prose’ nor the assertion that ‘the lines of communication between the conscious and the unconscious have been cut and thus we have lost our need for imagination and the need for symbols of extraordinariness’. Blumenfeld makes these assertions because he believed that an audience’s reliance on the hero in myth, legend or story will lead to ‘a belief in magic’ and on the desire to have heroism in reality as an incarnation of the heroism of myths and legends, a heroism which relies on destiny and divine will. Blumenfeld sees the

39 Alfred, Lord Tennyson’ In Memoriam for A.H.H.’ canto 56 in ’Complete Works’, Oxford University Press 40 Jon Blumenfeld ‘The Hero Myth, Transcendence, and Joseph Campbell’ New England Skeptical Society Journal 4 Jan 2001. website http://www.theness.com/articles.asp?id=73 (passim) 41 Campbell believed life was primarily an oedipal struggle to replace the father and secure the love of the mother and he also firmly believed in Jungian archetypes. See page 126on, op. cit.

18 monomythic hero of Campbell ‘sidetracked’ into a failure and notes that Campbell monomyths contain some of the most treasured stories of heroes, notably Beowulf, Gilgamesh and Arthur, all three ultimately ‘failures’ as individuals.

The problem of transcendence for an audience Blumenfeld asserts is that in epic only heroes and villains have the power to influence the outcome of any contest. The hero is chosen by fate: the villain can impede and interfere. The average person can only choose which side they prefer to die for, but do not influence events. The hero’s followers do not have powers of their own but they do share in the glory of victory. Real heroes, as Blumenfeld argues persuasively, have no special powers, they are people who find themselves in a place and time when something has to be done; they either act or not. They are not ‘pure of heart’;42 there is no formula for heroism in reality. There is no script and no guarantee that the hero will survive and virtue will triumph over those who lack it, that effort will be crowned with success and that there will be a reward. The real hero is ‘upon a high wire without a net’. Blumenfeld cites the example of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomatist, who defied the Gestapo at times in face-to-face confrontations, to save the lives of over 100,000 Hungarian Jews. At the war’s end he was arrested by the Red Army and was not heard from again.

Audiences do know the difference between a real hero and a fictional one. It is precisely because audiences know that living in a world without a safety net is frightening that they take comfort in the fictional hero who reassures them that they are not alone in a vast uncaring universe.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett43 notes that the status of a ‘real life’ hero depends as much on the vagaries of public perception as on the hero’s own deeds. In the case of Giuseppe Garibaldi, his true heroism lay in his unselfish and lifelong devotion to the cause of Italian Nationalism, but instead he was viewed with sensationalism and was even used to sell ‘Garibaldi Biscuits’. Similarly, El Cid, a ruthless and daring mercenary in 11th

42 See Chapter VI on the Victorians. 43 Lucy Hughes-Hallett ‘Heroes: Saviours Traitors and Supermen – A History of Hero Worship’ Knopf NY 2004.

19 Century Spain was ‘whitewashed’ into the hero of the Reconquista of Spain from the Moors. Heroism, Hughes-Hallett convincingly states, is fundamentally antidemocratic as the hero stands apart from common humanity because of his innate gifts. Thus in socio- political terms, there is a link between the cult of the hero and authoritarianism. Achilles is termed ‘lethally seductive’ but Hughes-Hallet shows a soft spot for Odysseus whom she describes as ‘a person heroic enough not to die, but to live’.

This part of the discussion dealing with real and fictional heroes can best be concluded by referring to a eulogy by Pietro Aretino44 summing up the brief life of his master, the condottiere Giovanni de Medici, known to history as Giovanni delle Bande Nere (1498- 1526).45

The vigour of his spirit was incredible. Generosity was in him greater than power, and he gave more to the soldiers than he, a soldier, retained for himself. Fatigue he always sustained with the grace of patience. Wrath never governed him, nor transformed his manner of speaking. He appreciated gallant men more than riches. He was difficult to know, yet there was nothing about him his men in action or in quarters that he did not know because during combat he fought side by side with his soldiers and officers and in peacetime he made no difference between himself and others. In the plainness of his clothing, stained with armour stains, was testimony to the love he bore his troops. He was eager for praise and glory and what won the hearts of his men was that in danger he always cried ‘follow me’. He was the first to mount his horse, the last to dismount. His greatest talent was the art of war.

Even taking the hyperbole into account, this passage is something of a ‘checklist’ of the hero as he should be in real life and as he is in fiction.

44 Pietro Aretino (1492-1556) a contemporary of Niccolo Machiavelli. Aretino was famed for his literary attacks on powerful men. The quoted passage is from ‘Lettere Scelte’ (1912), edited by Guido Battelli Lanciano and translated by Joseph Jay Deiss in ‘Captains of Fortune’ London, Victor Gollanz Ltd. 1966. 45 The Italian Navy named a warship in his honour.

20 Briefly recapitulating the methodology of laying out the argument, it uses the analogy of overlaying a ‘transparency’ over a ‘base’ image and thus building up a composite final image. Further, the organizational method relies on the description and on the analysis of the hero in an ‘ascending’ chronological order. Thus, rather than showing the individual heroes as if they were in a police line up, the thesis shows the progression of the heroic character from the past to the present, with Marlowe as the apotheosis of the prototype rather than being ‘unus inter pares’, one among equals. The function of the ‘link’ chapters is to complete the chronological story line, both by filling the gaps between Homer and Virgil and by tracking various heroes from a range of epics including, for example, Paradise Lost and the Victorian Idylls of the King. In the New World, the hero’s journey begins with the saga of ‘Leatherstocking’ as the precursor of the Frontier hero as he makes his way from New England across the prairies to California.

The thesis acknowledges the Aristotelian description of epic as a ‘sub set’ of tragic drama. However, while acknowledging the relationship between the two forms, the thesis has omitted a substantial discussion of any tragedy/drama, staying squarely with epic genre. Admittedly, epic is seen by Aristotle as complementary to the visual portrayal of action,(drama).However, even in its early oral presentation accompanied by music, epic was focused on ‘character’ rather than on ‘action’ and for its appeal relied entirely on the imagination of the audience. The narrative of epic consists not of a single event, but of a series of episodes, so the ‘Morte’, for example, is in essence an ‘Arthuriad’, the story of Arthur. The thesis demonstrates that the portrayal of the character of the hero is an imitation (μίμεσις) mimesis of reality and humans respond to this portrayal by using the fiction to shape their response to the reality of their lives. Warriors imitated their rôle models and it will be seen that even today soldiers still regard themselves not as servants of the impersonal State but as members of a tribe, descendants from warriors.46 It needs to be stressed that the thesis focuses on literature and not on the psychology of the hero. The hero discussed in this thesis is essentially the protagonist of an adventure story, a

46 See Chapter X, and Appendices. Regimental histories are compiled to ensure that present members honour and emulate those who preceded them

21 quest. The commentator on the formation of boys, Stephen Biddulph agrees with Campbell that boys always respond to these adventures and invariably identify with the heroic protagonist.47

The thesis glances also at the hero as adventurer (Biggles and James Bond) and at the hero as sportsman and larrikin, so beloved of antipodean males. The purpose has been to identify how the hero remains an enduring rôle model for masculinity, especially in a culture that still contains elements of the patristic and the patriarchal. The Prince by Machiavelli shows men not as they should be, but as they are. Epic does the opposite, heroes are portrayed as men should be48, and thus epics encourage males to want to be like these heroes. If that is not possible, it is comforting that they exist, even if only in fiction. Raymond Chandler concurs with this view in his well-known essay, The Simple Art of Murder.49

When everyone is a hero, no one is a hero. A cricketer who scores a century on a hot day is a media ‘hero’ and his innings is labeled as an ‘epic’. A station wagon with space for camping equipment is given the brand name of ‘Odyssey’. The accompanying commercial on television shows a rugged-looking driver negotiating clashing rocks, tempests and even the lightning bolts of a wrathful Poseidon brandishing a trident from storm clouds.

The Wooden Horse is used to sell nasal spray. The advertisements show a Trojan commander with blocked nasal sinuses who allows the Horse through the gates of his city as he is too ill to think clearly. The slogan is an admonishesment, ‘Avoid stuff ups, use Sinex’. The popular and trivial use of the hero and the epic is an indication of how deeply this theme has embedded itself into human consciousness, albeit a masculine one, so that it now forms part of popular culture as it is used in everyday speech and its symbols are tools of commerce.

47 See Chapter VII. 48 In reality, the positive characteristics attributed to males such as courage, compassion, loyalty, desire for esteem etc. can equally be present in women. 49 See Chapter IX See also Appendices for an extract from ‘The Code of the Private Eye’.

22

This study aims to provide something of a banquet of heroes, a communal feast where men hearing tales of great deeds was a major activity (with the exception of Marlowe who invariably eats alone.) Thus this study is something of a Roman feast as it begins ‘ab ovo’ on the plains of Troy and finishes ‘usque ad mala’, 50 on the streets of towns in California. The study stays focused on the protagonist of a long episodic narrative, in which a remarkable individual endures trials and tribulations to conclude a journey which is of benefit to his fellows and which brings everlasting honour to his name. In addition to the warrior, other varieties of hero are also discussed, such as the juvenile action hero, the adventurer,51 the wanderer and the sportsman. The focus, however, is firmly on the hero who faces life threatening challenges which involve violence and who, like the U.S. Marines, emerges with his ‘honour clean’.52

The substance of the study is provided by the synoptic representation of the hero, from prototype to stereotype to ‘super’ man (the Alpha male) of the present. The material is characterized by three factors. First, it deals with a male person who overcomes adversity. Secondly, the narrative spans numerous episodes and is presented for a public audience who is instructed in the moral aspects of the protagonist’s behaviour. Thirdly, it covers a broad geographical area of Western civilization, starting the journey in Greece, then to Rome, to England and finally across the Atlantic to the New World.

At the conclusion, the study will have defined the characteristics of the hero in epic fiction and thus provide an understanding of this character in current narratives in print and in film. Secondly, it will show that audiences for epic narrative have remained similar in composition, being male, mass as well as elite and always aware of the didactic content of the narrative which instructs the audience in morality and honour 53(albeit a masculine version of these virtues) and in fashioning an identity which is acceptable to

50 ‘ab ovo usque ad mala’ from eggs to apples, traditionally the beginning and end of a Roman banquet .Homer often states that men listen to tales of heroes ‘after they had put aside their desire for food.’ 51 Paul Zweig ‘The Adventurer, the fate of Adventure in the Western World’. Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey 1974 page 35. See also Chapter VII. 52 Hymn of the U.S. Marine Corps. See Appendices for the full text. 53 Virtus in Latin refers to the characteristics if a man ’vir’ and it has the same connotation as the modern word ‘courage.’

23 one’s fellows.54An Homeric Greek, were he to be teleported by a time machine to today’s Australia would find instantly recognizable a popular sports figure like the cricketer Shane Warne55 as deserving of geras (γέρας,) the spoils of victory, because like his Argive counterparts, when he does battle for his tribe, ‘he stands in the front ranks’. Finally, this study will demonstrate agreement with the definition of the hero provided by John Lash, namely,

he is someone who acts consistently above the norm. He is fully human even if the prototypes are semi divine. He exalts at excelling himself and thus he becomes a rôle model for his clan, race, nation, even humanity at large.56

54 There have been suggestions that masculine heroic literature and stories have been used by one generation to manipulate the next one into being prepared to be soldiers for ‘King and Country’. George Orwell examines this possibility (see Chapter VII on juvenile literature) and Michael McKernan addresses this in his PhD thesis ‘The role of the Churches in Australia during the first world war’ A.N.U. 1973. Both note that there has been no active involvement by the state in either Great Britain or Australia in deliberately manipulating the dissemination of ‘action’ popular literature for boys. Nevertheless, there is some truth in the poem ‘Dulce et decorum est’ by Wilfred Owen who quotes Horace (Odes III ,ii line13),’ ‘To children ardent for some desperate glory, Repeating the Old Lie dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (it is pleasing and noble to die for your own country’) 55 See the Chapter VII on the Hero as Sportsman 56 John Lash ‘The Hero, Manhood and Power.’ Thames & Hudson. London 1995, Page 5

24 CHAPTER I

Introduction: Naming the Parts

‘Epics deal with events of grandeur and importance’ C.M.Bowra

To examine the character of the hero, it is necessary to bring his image into focus, from his beginnings in a remote past to his representation in the present. To do this, the hero needs to be viewed both chronologically and in his various manifestations.

‘Et remotissima prope’ is the motto of the Hesperus publishing house, borrowed from the motto of a 17th Century Italian Academy. In turn, the Academy had used the words allegedly spoken by a lens maker who was asked by Pope Pius II, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini,1 what the purpose was of the lenses he was being shown. The craftsman replied, ‘et remotissima prope’ to bring close up things that are far away. The examination of the character of the hero from its creation in antiquity reveals that, mutatis mutandis,2 the character retains all of the original characteristics and keeps all of its appeal for male audiences into the 21st Century. The hero is the same man only in different apparel.

To begin, there needs to be a ‘Naming the Parts’, a military expression which refers to identifying the component parts of a weapon. This phrase is appropriate for defining the terms used in this discussion as so much of the material related to the hero deals with warfare and conflict. The glossary nature of the early part of the introduction is to clarify what is meant by ‘epic’ and who is regarded as a ‘hero’. The aim is to track the character of the hero through time, from classical antiquity to the modern era, from the ‘ringing plains of windy Troy’3 to the ‘mean streets’4 of a modern metropolis. The focus is on the fictional character of the hero because the tales which tell of his deeds mirror the world of humans and because these tales present idealized individuals as rôle model, they are part

1 Enea Silvio de Piccolomini (1405-1464) Bishop of Trieste 1447, later (1458) Pope Pius II, a name he chose because of his admiration for ‘pius’ Aeneas of Virgil. 2 With the required changes having been made (by successive audiences.) 3 Tennyson, ‘Ulysses’. See Chapter VI 4 Raymond Chandler, ‘The Simple Art of Murder.’ See Appendices for the text of the key part of this essay.

25 of the collective imagination of males from different times and cultures. Real life heroes and episodes are included in this study where they provide a relevant comparison with their fictional counterpart.

‘Epic’ is from the Greek word επος (epos) which originally meant ‘word’ then ‘a song’ and later ‘a story’ involving a male protagonist who goes on a quest which will bring him glory and which will benefit his companions or his community. This quest, especially in later epics, is one not solely involving an actual journey, but also one that requires an inner journey towards some sort of self-awareness. The definition provided by C.M. Bowra is comprehensive.

An epic is by common consent a narrative of some length and deals with events which have a certain grandeur and importance and come from a life of action, especially violent action such as war. It gives special pleasure because its events and persons enhance our belief in the worth of human achievement and in the dignity and nobility of man5.

It will be seen that this definition is appropriate for all the principal texts examined by this study.

The Greek and Roman works of epic have been chosen because they are universally acknowledged as the foundations of the Western literary canon. It will be seen in this discussion that these works continue to appeal to contemporary audiences. The story of Arthur is central to European literary representation of knighthood and it will be shown that the values of chivalry have been passed on in an unbroken line of narrative to modern audiences. The hero as rescuer and saviour has been transported to the New World and eventually placed in an urban setting, with undiminished appeal. Therefore, it is only these epics in the Western literary tradition that are discussed in this study. A more far-reaching analysis of the hero in the epic genre would include texts from many parts of the globe from horse epics of the Mongols, to the epics of Spain (El Cid) and of Portugal (The

5 C.M. Bowra ‘From Virgil to Milton’ London Macmillan 1963 page 1.

26 Lusiads); the list would be a long one.6 The Siegfried saga of the Northern European epic tradition is worthy of a brief mention at this point of this study as it is one of many examples of epic genre as an integral part of male culture in wide spread societies.7 The first manuscript dates from 1210, approximately the same time as the works of Chretien de Troyes were beginning to popularize the French Matter of Arthur in Southern Europe. It is likely that at least the elite component of the audience for the Siegfried was familiar with the Matter of Arthur both from France and from Britain. Siegfried, written in Middle High German, tells of the travails of Siegfried, the dragon slayer, possibly based on events from the 4th Century. C. E. The epic is known as the Nibelungenlied after the Nibelungs, a race of dwarfs who guard treasure. The opening lines are pure epic,

Full many a wonder is told us in stories old Of heroes worthy of praise, of hardships dire Of joy and feasting, of weeping and wailing Of the fighting of bold warriors…8

The epics under scrutiny also deal with ‘heroes worthy of praise’. They are grouped into three broad categories; first, to the matter of Troy (Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid); secondly, the matter of Britain (Arthur and the Table Round). This stretches from the original English version to the Arthurian revival of 19th Century Britain and to the treatment given to the epic material by the Americans (Twain, Steinbeck) as inheritors of the Western literary tradition. The third category to be examined as an ‘epic’ consists of the seven novels by Raymond Chandler featuring Philip Marlowe as the hero, the epic as ‘Noir’ fiction. There are two reasons for this choice. The first is the episodic and yet cohesive nature of the novels, linked by the person of the hero, which is a characteristic of epic.

6 ‘The Secret History of The Mongols’ composed in 1227. Written in vertical Uighur and translated into Chinese as ‘Yuan pi-shih’, ‘The secret history’, preserved in the Ming Dynasty archives. It is the only genuine account of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) written shortly after his death. Translated with a historical and philological commentary by Igor De Rachewiltz of A.N.U. and published in ‘Papers on Far Eastern History’ between 1971 and 1985. A full English translation is available as ’Chinggis Khan; the Golden History of the Mongols’ Folio Society London 1993. 7 There is a discussion of the similarities of epics from unrelated cultures in Chapters VI and VII. 8 Raffael Burton ‘Das Nibelungenlied’ Introduction by Edward R. Haymes Yale University Press 1998.

27 Secondly, the character of the hero as portrayed in this California saga is seminal to the ongoing development of the twentieth century hero, the private eye, the crusader who keeps ‘the mean streets’ safe for us all. The novels, while each is self contained in terms of plot, can be read as an integrated whole, in much the same way as the ‘Morte d’Arthur’ can be read either as individual episodes or as a coherent entity. Eugene Vinaver favours the episodic approach to the ‘Morte’, hence his title The Works of Sir Thomas Malory while Caxton preferred to publish the work as a continuous narrative.

Each of these categories of epic forms a major part of this study. It needs to be stated at this point that in the case of the classical epics, the ending, indeed most of the story line, was well known to the audience. A component of all epics is the ‘predictable’ story line and ‘good’ versus ‘evil’ plot which provides for the audience the pleasure of recognition combined with the thrill of the new. Cedric Whitman9 reminds us that the audience’s interest was stimulated by the originality of the composition and of the presentation of the gods as possessing all the human frailties of mortals. To the audience, the interaction of the gods with the hero is essential to explain why events turn out contrary to expectations. This limitation to human achievement is termed μοίρα (moira), a word usually translated as ‘fate’. This style of narrative also distinguishes the ‘creator’ of the work as being distinct and separated from the characters, as Aristotle writes so approvingly of Homer. It could be argued that Chandler becomes increasingly identified with Marlowe, but there is still a separation between the ‘creator’ and his creation and Marlowe always speaks in his own very distinctive voice. This interaction between the hero and ‘fate’ is a characteristic of all epics; sometimes the hero has free will and sometimes the ‘iron fate of the gods’ wins out. There is no inconsistency in this as epic is narrative not theology.

The word ‘hero’ is also Greek in origin ήρως (heros) meaning a sort of ‘super’ man, one who is semi-divine and by this fate of birth provides a link between men and gods. It is useful at this stage of the study to provide a catalogue of the variants of the hero character in keeping with the methodology of the construction of the keel analogy alluded to earlier.

9 Cedric Whitman ‘Homer and the Heroic Tradition’ Harvard University Press, 1958, see particularly chapter VIII ‘Homeric Characters and the Epic Tradition’.

28 The five variants act as fasteners for the ribs and are an integral part of the development of the argument of this study rather than actual conclusions drawn from research. The compilation of heroes into these groupings could be seen as being somewhat arbitrary but there is general agreement regarding the following broad categories of hero.10 The description of the hero in each ‘type’ thus serves as a signpost for the detailed treatment each receives in turn during the course of this study (with the exception of the last mentioned). As will be seen in the conclusion, each variant reveals new qualities that have emerged from closer examination of the representatives of each group.

In Western literature, there are five types of epic fictional hero.11 The first is the mythical or divine, or at least ‘god like’ as is common in classical literature (both Achilles and Aeneas have a divine parent). This hero is a champion of his people and as Frazer confirms in The Golden Bough, in Homeric Greece these kings and chiefs were spoken of as being sacred or divine, even their houses and chariots were sacred objects. Frazer continues, ‘it was thought that the reign of a good king caused the black earth to bring forth wheat and barley, the trees to be loaded with fruit, the flocks to multiply and the sea to yield fish.’. 12 In Ionic Greek, the word ‘hero’ can also designate either people of the remote past who lived up to the time of the Trojan War and whose deeds are celebrated in epics or people who became the objects of cults after their deaths, including those who lived in historical times. The religious aspect of this form of ‘hero worship’ is alien to Homeric Greeks.13

The second type is the hero of legend or of Romance (the difference between the Romantic and the ‘romantic, is also discussed briefly).14 Lancelot is the obvious example of this type of hero as he is very much a secular hero who is attractive to women and who

10 Fausto Codino ‘Odissea’ Prefazione. Pagine 5-6 Einaudi Editore Torino, 1982. 11 While reality intrudes in this study, the heroes at the centre of the discussion are works of fiction. The study also alludes to the connexion between the mythical and the folk hero. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, (The Compact Edition of the Oxford Dictionary Volume I 1974) the word ‘hero’ was first used in English in the late 14th Century. 12 Sir James Frazer ‘The Golden Bough’. Pan Macmillan Paperback 1991, London. Page 89. 13 Gregory Nagy ‘The Best of Achaeans: Concepts of the hero in Archaic Greek Poetry.’ Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London 1979. 14 James Bond is a typical Byronic ‘romantic’ hero, desired by women and envied by men. Chapter VII

29 is attracted by them. This is different from the heroes of the French Cycle or indeed heroes in the Arthurian cycle such as Galahad, who are spiritual heroes whose quest is not for earthly glory, but for the salvation of their souls. It is the Christian knight who achieves the quest of the Holy Grail, his soul is saved.15 Arthur, while not semi-divine, is actually closer to the classical mythical hero as he is chosen king by the divine intervention of the device of the sword in the stone. Similarly, his passing is not that of a mortal hero; he is rowed to Avalon to have his wounds tended and thus become ‘the once and future king’16 an immortal figure frozen in time, not in Heaven but in a holy place from whence Arthur may return if there is a need for him.

The third type of hero is the superior man, who is mortal but who encounters extraordinary challenges and who has powers beyond those of ordinary men. The word ‘hero’ in this context, has come to mean a ‘superman’, though not in the sense of the comic book character from the planet Krypton, nor the űbermensch at the centre of the concept of Aryan racial supremacy. Arthur and Lancelot both qualify as belonging to this type but Malory shifts the focus from Arthur as the warrior King to Lancelot, the hero as a knight and gentleman. Thus, Malory moves the hero closer to ordinary mortals mainly through Lancelot’s all too human flaw, the adulterous relationship with Arthur’s Queen Guinevere. Lancelot thus can be seen as the prototype of the ’Everyman’ as hero, at least in terms of the mostly male upper class readership of the time. The adventure heroes of later popular fiction also fit into this category as does Lucifer, the most flawed of all heroes in that sweeping traditional English epic, Paradise Lost.

The fourth type of hero in the progression from hero as ‘gentleman’, a member of an elite group in society, to the hero as the common man is very much in the tradition of Everyman who first appeared in the Mediaeval morality plays17. This character provided

15 Just as today men desire is to be wealthy and famous, the common desire of a mediaeval man was to achieve Eternal Salvation. 16 Hic iacet Arthurus Rex quondam, Rex Futurus. ‘Here lies Arthur, the once and future King. ‘Morte’ Book XXI ‘Death of Arthur’. 17 A discussion of these is outside the scope of this study. It is worth noting that they were introduced into England from Holland in about1520 and were quickly absorbed into folklore.

30 the model for Christian in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress18. Bunyan (1628-1688) was a member of a Non-Conformist Church and spent more than twelve years in prison for preaching without a licence. He began Pilgrim’s Progress while in gaol. Christian is a common man on an honourable journey through life to his Salvation at the Gates of Heaven. He is guided by Evangelist and both resist worldly temptations, especially those of Vanity Fair.

This hero has some of the qualities of the ‘realistic’ type of hero who is subject to the same temptations and weaknesses as other mortals. However, because of his innate heroic qualities, he succeeds where others fail. He has courage, the principal quality required of a man. He is the sort of man other males would like to be and if that is not possible, they are at least glad that such a person exists, even if only in fiction.

Philip Marlowe is this type of realistic hero. Chandler depicted him as a ‘working’ class man but one who retains the nobility of mind and purity of soul of his heroic fictional predecessors of breeding. Marlowe brings some order out of chaos and returns his audience to a version of innocent Eden, or at least provides it with a reminder that it once existed.

The fifth type is the hero who is ‘inferior’ to most men in terms of prowess, the ‘divine idiot’ of picaresque fiction, such as Parson Adams in Joseph Andrews or even Tom Jones in the eponymous novel. Another literary example of the picaro as hero is Sancho Panza, the loyal simpleton who attends Don Quixote but who ironically has infinitely more wisdom and understanding than his ‘heroic’ master. Cervantes had set out to write a parody of the chanson de geste and the tales of chivalry which had so much inflamed the brain of his creation, Don Quixote. In inventing the caballero de la triste figura, the knight with the sad face, he also created a type of hero who is neither ironic nor mindless, but rather one who wills to be himself. Don Quixote fervently believes in the heroes and

18 John Bunyan ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to come, delivered under the similitude of a Dream.’ Part I (1678) deals with Christian, while Part II (1684) is about his wife Christiana’s journey to salvation in the company of Mr. Great-Heart. World’s Classics Series Oxford no.12 University Press 1942

31 in their epic tales of chivalry. During a disputation with the Canon of Toledo, he vigorously defends his rôle models. The Canon has referred to ‘the countless absurd exaggerations that are written in those nonsensical books of chivalry’19. In particular the prelate refers to the tales of Guy de Bourgogne and the twelve worthies of France, saying that these books are ‘untrue, harmful and of no value to the nation’. Don Quixote replies

If that is a lie, it must also be true that there was no Hector, no Achilles, no Trojan War, no Twelve Peers of France, no King Arthur of England who was transformed into a crow and whose return is awaited in his kingdom to this day. Who will go so far as to say that the search for the Holy Grail, the loves of Guinevere and Lancelot are apocryphal, even though there are persons who almost remember having seen the Duenna Quintañona20 who was the greatest pourer of wine in Great Britain?21

This quixotic anti-hero is enjoying some popularity in current fiction and in films but really falls outside the scope of this study. First, he is not a central character in traditional epic narrative and secondly, as an anti-hero, he does not serve as a positive rôle model for young males, the principal consumers of heroic fiction.

Other types of popular heroes are given some treatment, as they are mutations and subsets of the epic hero. In addition to the folk hero such as Robin Hood, these include the adventurer as well as the swashbuckling Byronic hero of romance. This type is a derivative of the courtly hero as typified by Chaucer’s squire,

a lovyere and a lusty bacheler’ Singenge he was, or floytinge, al the day He was as fresh as is the monthe of May.22

19Miguel Cervantes ‘Don Quixote de la Mancha’ 1605 part i 1615 part ii Translated by Edith Grossman Vintage, Harper Collins U.S.A. 2003 Page 423.and 425/426. 20 She was associated with the tales of Lancelot and became part of Spanish folklore. 21 ‘Don Quixote’ op.cit. Part I Chapter XLIX. Pages 425-426 22 Geoffrey Chaucer ‘The Canterbury Tales’ The Prologue, World’s Classics No.76, London Oxford University Press 1961

32 The final example of this subset is the hero as sportsman who also shares some of the characteristics of the hero as barbarian in the Homeric epics and so the journey of the hero comes full circle.

One of the noteworthy developments of the treatment of the character of the hero by Malory was his presentation of the women in the hero’s life. Malory places women at the centre of the quest rather than merely at the margins. Queen Guinevere, Elaine and Morgan le Faye are women of flesh and blood instead of the stock fair maids of the French Romances or the two dimensional women of antiquity who are either the bearers of the next generation of heroes or a trophy won in battle. There are some rounded female characters in the classical epics such as Dido and to a lesser extent Penelope and Andromache. Helen is given an individual personality by Homer especially after she repents of her rash deed of eloping with Paris. These women are germane to the discussion as they relate to the hero and provide the audience with another perspective on his actions; in particular what is the effect of the hero’s άριστειά23 (aristeia), that is, of the consequence of these great deeds of the warrior on those close to him. The women of modern epic tend to be femmes fatales, Sirens who would lure heroes to destruction.

Excluded from this discussion are plays and works of drama because they lack the broad scope of the conventional epic narrative and because, as has been already noted, they deal with ‘action’ rather than with ‘character’. There are a few exceptions,24 one being a brief reference later to the play ‘Troilus and Cressida’ by Shakespeare as the characters of Aeneas and Achilles appear in it in changed form, reflecting the fashion of the age and illustrating how each age represents heroes in its own image, in this case as Elizabethan gentlemen. Interestingly, the Greeks do not fare well as Shakespeare’s sympathies lie very much with the Trojans. The other exception to the exclusion of plays is the references to the reinterpretation of the Homeric heroes by later Greek dramatists

23 Aristeia, the code of the warrior, similar in concept to bushido in Japanese samurai culture. 24 The character of Odysseus is discussed in the context of the pejorative treatment that he was accorded in Greek drama. This is a brief mention as Odysseus is a secondary and not the central character in these works.

33 Niccolo Machiavelli25 (1469-1527) in his dedication to The Prince wrote that his work would be of value to his Medici masters in developing an understanding of how men behave and that he had used the personality of Cesare Borgia as being that of an ideal ruler. Machiavelli’s advice was to be ruthlessly despotic as well as cunningly magnanimous to keep corrupt human nature under obedience. A reputation for virtue was useful, but a wise ruler would seek to be feared rather than to be loved. This character is in contrast with the hero of the Western epic. It is the fictional creation of classical antiquity that has provided a mould into which each succeeding generation has poured its aspirations and ideals. The epic hero has endured for almost three millennia for two principal reasons. First, he serves a moral didactic purpose, he portrays men as they should be, that is, as men would like men to be. Secondly, he helps us escape from the humdrum existence of our imperfect world to a golden age full of enchantment, hope, promise and adventure, where we learn self trust, the very essence of heroism.

Charles Rowan Beye26 discusses the concept of heroism as a high level abstraction and primarily a moral concept. According to Platonic-Christian ethics, the mind is seen as hypersensitive but ineffectual while the body is brutish, but effective, especially in the use of physical strength under duress. This ethical concept is embodied in the hero as a warrior. This individual is of elevated moral worth and has superior abilities and thus his actions determine the fate of many others. He pursues goals indefatigably in the face of great adversity and powerful antagonists. Because of his devotion to these ethical concepts of honour and reputation, the hero achieves a spiritual grandeur, even if he fails to win what may be regarded by others as a victory.27Lancelot is a prime example of this type of epic hero. He does not achieve the Sang Real28, that is left to his son, but he does gain eternal salvation.

25 ‘The Prince’ was written and distributed in 1513 but not published until 1535, after Machiavelli’s death. 26 Charles Rowan Beye ‘Ancient epic Poetry, Homer, Apollonius Virgil’ Cornell University Press Ithaca and New York 1993. Pages 23-26 passim. 27 In Australian folk lore, Gallipoli, while militarily a disaster and thus not a conventional victory’ has this very spiritual dimension which has elevated all those involved to heroic status. ANZAC cove in Turkey is a site of an annual patriotic pilgrimage. See Luke Slattery, ‘Dating Aphrodite, Modern adventures in the Ancient World.’ ABC Books Sydney, 2005. 28 There are several splellings of this word, more commonly written ‘sangreal’. See Appendices ‘The Matter of Arthur’ appendix 4 page viii.

34

The hero subscribes to rational morality, one dedicated to reality, to the achievement of life-promoting values such as the defence of the weak and the preservation of a just society. It is relevant at this point to examine the physical description of the hero and the consistency of his presentation to audiences. This portrayal is a universal technique of literary production, including the oral composition. It is both stylistic and synchronic, that is based on the author’s own style and preferences as well as being diachronic, that is spanning across time of each author’s epoch, thus providing a social viewpoint as well.

This study argues that the physical traits, youthful appearance, gestures and expressions that reveal mood, speech, attitude towards fashion and clothing remain quite constant. This change, from the highly visible (an appearance acknowledged instinctively by the audience, when the hero appears everyone immediately recognizes him as such) to the minutely described hero of the modern era, is about exteriors. The ideal sized hero of classical epic becomes the realistic hero of the modern version of this genre. However, he still remains the same man, only clad in different apparel. The cultural construction of the hero’s grandeur and his gender together acting as a rôle model for masculine behaviour can be found in four locations, namely the body; action; external life and the internal world.29 This construct is particularly important in the presentation of the masculine hero of epic in its film version.

The body deals with the visual representation of the male; Tarzan’s physique had ‘the sinuous curves of a Greek god’30, albeit one who is not too troubled by civilization or by women. It is no accident that in films, Tarzan was portrayed most often by Johnny Weissmuller, an Olympic Gold Medallist for the U. S. in swimming and that his successors on the screen have been played by either male models or body builders. Tarzan displays male physical grandeur, a sort of masculinity as spectacle, as well as the qualities of skill and endurance, especially of pain. All epic heroes endure pain stoically, from

29 Pat Kirkham and Janet Thumin ed. ‘You Tarzan. Masculinity, Movies and Men’ Palgrave Macmillan Gordonville, Virginia U.S.A. 1993 (passim) 30Edgar Rice Boroughs ‘Tarzan of The Apes’ Facsimile of first edition of 1914 (The First Edition Library) page 53.

35 Achilles to Marlowe. Furthermore, heroes have the armour, weapons, appointments that render them instantly recognizable. When the Trojan nobles are assembled on the ramparts watching the Argive host in battle formation, they recognize each of the advancing captains as heroes as they appear similar to gods. All Helen does is merely identifying these heroes by name.31 This quality is in sharp contrast to the anodyne masculinity of the romantic hero; in cinematic terms, a handsome actor such as Cary Grant would not have been able to convince audiences that he could withstand pain and still function whereas Humphrey Bogart, with his rugged face, could.32

The particular language used in the description of the masculinity of the hero firmly locates the feminine outside the boundaries of the masculine, that is, the ’feminine’ is what the ‘masculine’ is not. Women in epic stories are mostly ciphers who work out at the boundaries of masculinity. In film, as in adventure epic stories, masculinity is broadly defined for the audience as the encounter with the feminine so that audiences can discern what ‘kind’ of man this is. ‘Star’ personae assist audiences by presenting an individual as a ‘constant’ persona. David Malouf explains this characteristic as a ‘transformation’.33 Actors in theatre give up their ‘real’ selves to become a ‘character’, which uses their form and voice but is not them. In film, Malouf states, a ‘star’ is always just himself.34 What he offers is the guarantee that he will be just that, wholly and completely, just for us.

It is his gift to be glowingly himself to the full pitch of his being….A star is one whose personal presence, whose special quality of self, we instantly recognize and want to connect with again and again. They do not change nor take on other selves. That is not what we want. What engages and charms us is the constancy of what they are. The performance they give is only possible with our collusion, our interest, attention and love.

For example, the decency, slow country-boy charm and dependability of the hero in

31 ‘Iliad’ Book 3 the ‘Teichoskopia’ (looking down from the walls) episode. 32 See Chapter IX on Marlowe for a discussion of how the interpretation by an actor of a hero is instrumental in the acceptance of that character by audiences. 33 David Malouf ‘Transformation’ Lecture at the Seymour Centre 13th March 1999.

36 Westerns created by such perennial stars such as Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott and John Wayne35, are constant and exploited by filmmakers to fill the theatres with audiences who want more of the same.36

The second location for the hero is the portrayal of the body in action, the manifestation of his physical attributes including violence, aggression, competition, skill and endurance. The hero performs chivalrous deeds with the focus on competition, he acts to win. All of his training at the hands of mentors and in the company of other young men, is both for the purpose of male bonding (the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table, for example) or as a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood, to ‘winning his spurs’. There have been numerous depictions of this transformation in countless war films. The recruits are bullied by older men who will turn them from ‘queers’ and ‘girls’ into real men. They are dehumanised, defeminised 37(even down to ‘zero’ haircuts) and socialized into a new band of brothers. This fellowship helps the young hero to construct his identity and shows him how to craft an image of himself to offer to the world so as to be accepted by other males.

The third ‘location’ deals with the hero’s public interaction with others, especially with males. These activities delineate the patriarchal order which defines masculinity and power as being virtually synonymous. Nobility is not a birthright but it is defined and earnt by actions. Marriage often signals the end of a strongly define masculinity. Marlowe marries in Poodle Springs but the marriage ‘doesn’t take’ and the fears that he had expressed earlier about domesticity are realised. This premonition is shown when he visits Anne Riordan, he looks at his surroundings and muses ’It was nice room. It would be a

34 The ‘masculine’ applies equally to the ‘feminine’ in the star system. 35 Edward Buscombe, ‘The BFI Companion to the Western’ (foreword by Richard Schikel) Andre Deutsch London 1988. 36 Harrison Ford could be added to this list, having made a series of ‘Indiana Jones’ adventure films, the last while aged in his sixties (2007). The reality in Hollywood is not always close to the image; Glen Ford, always the ambivalent, troubled hero who takes action very reluctantly served in the French Foreign Legion. Sylvester Stallone, the epitome of the action hero, was a gym instructor in a girls’ school before becoming an actor. David Thompson ‘The New Biography of Film’ Fourth Edition Little, Brown, Great Britain 2002. 37 One example, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ made in 1987 by Stanley Kubrick., about training Marines for the Vietnam War. The graduating recruits are told ‘Today you are Marines. You are part of a brotherhood. Until the day you die, every Marine is your brother. Marines die, but the Marine Corps lives forever. YOU will

37 nice room to wear slippers in’.38What really puts him at ease, however, is a room with 39 ‘a homey smell, the smell of dust and tobacco smoke, the smell of a world where men live and keep on living.’ In Marlowe’s world and in that of the Western hero who preceded him, women feminise and dominate men while the femmes fatales,40 with their bedroom eyes, try to make good boys do bad things.

The fourth location for the hero’s persona is the ‘internal life’, his experiences and the articulation of his being. He is anxious, vulnerable and fearful of loss of power, control and prestige that comes from a sense of honour. Harold Bloom discusses the theory of anxiety in literature41. He believes that the ‘canon’42 does not exist to free audiences from anxiety, rather it is an achieved anxiety just as any strong literary work is its author’s achieved anxiety. This literary canon confirms our cultural anxieties yet gives them form and coherence. In this context, heroes fulfil our fantasies and ease our fears. Masculinity must be something men ‘have to live up to’ and it is structured through competition. This provides the tension between control and loss of control which is central to the patriarchal discourse of the masculine.43

It is no accident that historically most of mankind’s heroes have been great warriors. Andrew Bernstein explains this by noting that ‘it is because men have recognized implicitly that there are a special few who take on all comers to achieve their ends. This designation ’hero’ is a moral approbation reserved for this elite’.44

The educator Stephen Biddulph notes that fictional heroes are essential for adolescent

live forever.’ Defeminisation applied to female warriors as well such as the Amazons. 38 Raymond Chandler‘Farewell, my Lovely’ in ‘The Big Sleep and Other Stories.’ Penguin Books (2000) page 295. 39Raymond Chandler ‘Farewell, my Lovely’ page 296 40Raymond Chandler ‘The Little Sister’ Penguin Books (1949) page 44 41 Harold Bloom ‘The Western Canon’ Papermac Macmillan, London 1995. Bloom comments on the hero and notes that ‘no Western literary character is as incessant as Odysseus.’ Page 85-87(see also Chapter III) 42 ‘Canon’ from κανων(canoon) Greek for a ruler, a measuring stick, hence a standard, generally of excellence. 43 Harold Bloom ‘The western Canon’ op.cit. supra 44 Andrew Bernstein ‘The Philosophical Foundations of Heroism’ In ‘Capitalism Magazine’ 25th September 2004

38 males ‘until flesh and blood heroes come along’ 45 He identifies the need for boys to have a clear sense of self, for without this fundamental attribute, the results are either loneliness and emotional timidity or compulsive competition. Men who reject heroes, Biddulph notes, do so because they have often been so mistreated by older men that they have generalized that all men are abusive.

They need to learn that not all men will harm them and that tenderness and vulnerability can be positive qualities. Cynicism is immobilizing and precludes the taking of strong action….The ancient Greeks understood how the archetypes worked and that life had a sacred dimension.46

Heroic rôle models are valuable to boys as they show them how to be ‘good at being a man’. Biddulph states that ‘you need a set of (male) saints to admire if you are a man. These are based on real people but the ideal has its own life inside you. We build our own identity by borrowing that of others.’47

The influence of Aristotle’s views about the worth of epic heroes permeates all writing on this subject. He notes that it is essential, for example, that above all the character of the hero must be sympathetic, hence the presence of the flaw to endear him to the audience. Such a ‘flawed’ hero is the ‘Trickster’, sneaky, playful and witty who receives full treatment in the picaresque epic novels of the 18th century48 rather than in heroic epic poetry or prose narrative. That remains the realm of the ‘Warrior’ who ‘guards the walls of your emotional castle….The adult warrior inside both men and women can receive a verbal blow without sulking or collapsing, knows how to fight for limited goals, keeps the rules of combat in mind and in general be able to keep the fighting clean and to establish

45 Stephen Biddulph ‘ Schoolboys into Men’ Finch Publishing Sydney 2002. 46 Stephen Biddulph ‘Schoolboys into Men’ op. cit supra page 197, section on heroes for boys. 47 For a complete treatment of this learning and assimilating ‘rôles’ learnt from others in reality or fiction see Johan Huizinga’s ‘Homo Ludens’ (1938) published by Beacon Press, Boston 1971 and Octavio Paz ‘The Labyrinth of Solitude, Life and Thought in Mexico’ chapter II on ‘Masks’ Translated by Lysander Kemp, Grove Press Inc. New York 1961. 48 Henry Fielding ‘Tom Jones’ is the first treatment in English of the picaro, a wandering hero who has numerous adventures of a ‘comic’ kind. A character, also known as ‘el buscon’ created by Spanish novelists such as Guzman Alfarache.

39 limits….in other words, to fight well and to preserve honour and integrity. It is the presence of this inner ‘Warrior’ that makes the child within each of us feel safe.’49 It was his reading of the Iliad that helped Chris Hedges feel safe and preserve his integrity after being a war correspondent in El Salvador, Bosnia and the Sudan over a fifteen-year period. He writes,

The ‘Iliad’ captures in such pitiless verse the horror, capriciousness and intoxication of war-especially war waged against civilians. Human beings caught in a maw of violence are instantly transformed, as the poet points out, into mutilated and discarded objects ‘their bodies dearer to the vultures than to their wives.’

Hedges stresses that there is nothing sacred or necessarily redeeming in the ancient texts, which have been misused as propaganda from the Romans through to Fascist Italy. He could have added a reference to the art that has been inspired by these ancient epics has been used in recruitment posters from Germany to the United Kingdom, with stern Arthurian and Teutonic heroic figures enjoining young men to fight for the Fatherland or for King and Country. Nevertheless, Hedges concludes.

The classics offer a continuum with Western political systems. The present social philosophy cannot be connected seamlessly unless we understand the classical epics. “All literature, all philosophical treatises, all the voices of antiquity are full of examples for imitation which would all be unseen in darkness without the light of literature.” Marcus Tullius Cicero.50

No matter how much the hero is admired, even envied, not every male can rise to meet the challenge of assuming his mantle. Some may even, wistfully, find a rôle model in J Alfred Prufrock,

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

49 Stephen Biddulph, op.cit. supra page 74-75. 50 Chris Hedges ‘The Harvard Review’ August 2001. See also Chapter IV

40 Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the Prince; no doubt, an easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous- Almost, at times, the Fool.51

In contrast, the American New World hero, the Frontiersman who metamorphoses into the private eye characterized by Philip Marlowe, is one who struggles to uphold with unswerving loyalty and personal dedication the values required by human life.52Marlowe, as other heroes before him, has prowess, the ability to achieve on a grand scale, to resist evil men who want to take selfishly and to live parasitically on the strivings of others; the suitors in the Odyssey, for example, or the ranchers in Shane.53Odysseus reaches home after a decade of struggle with men, gods and ensnaring women. His uncompromising commitment to purpose in the face of adversity is the fire that tempers the hero. Struggle, then, is part of everyone’s life; the hero is simply one who does not accept any obstacle preventing him from living by the values he has chosen. He never yields, never betrays those values, like Marlowe, he is relentless in the pursuit of honour, justice, truth, all abstractions which make life worthwhile in a materialistic society. This is the Aristotelian ‘greatness of soul’, a nobility not of birth but of character, an integration of the mind and the body. Achilles truly becomes a hero when he thinks about others, when he compares the suffering of Priam with that of his own father who soon will have to endure a pain similar to that of Priam when he too looses his son when Achilles himself dies.54

Heroism is the positive response to the conflict of values. Courage, virtus, is that quality

51 ‘The love song of J Alfred Prufrock’. 1911 in T.S.Eliot ‘Complete Poems’ Faber and Faber 1967. 52 Referring to the men who died in combat, Abraham Lincoln in the Address at Gettysburg Cemetery, chose the word ‘struggle’ which is most appropriate to describe the New World hero’s interaction with his world. 53 ‘Shane’ Jack Schaefer, op. cit infra. 54 ‘Iliad’ Book 24, concluding passage.

41 of strength which withstands danger, fear or difficulty. Linked to these virtues is self control also practised self consciously and particularly in the case of the Greek hero, they had little to do with a person’s behaviour towards others. Achilles has to ‘beat down’ his fury μήνιν55 (menin)and his elderly mentor Phoenix urges him to tame his anger, using the word generally associated with training a farm animal or breaking a spirited horse δαμαω (damaoo). The concept of self-control and shame will be dealt with in more detail in the discussion of Achilles but it is worth noting self-control is a manly virtue, lack of it whether in a murderous rage or excess of grief is shameful. It is this fear of shame (aidos)αίδως which motivates the hero to exercise self control. Admittedly, Homer uses this concept rarely; Homeric heroes do not as a rule, practise ‘common sense’ σωφροσυνη56 (soophrosine).This virtue is desirable in a hero’s wife and one of the key descriptors of Penelope is περιφρων (periphroon) a word which coveys the idea of being both wary and wise, not swayed by emotions or passions. Penelope demonstrates these qualities to perfection in her keeping the Suitors at bay for a decade and in making sure that the stranger who claims to be her husband is, in fact, Odysseus.57It was not until the Middle Ages that chastity was added as another aspect of self-control for women.

Menelaus offers one piece of advice to his young guest Telemachus who visits him on the quest to find his father. He reminds the youth that ‘balance is the best in all things’58 the often used epithet for Telemachus is πεπνύμενος (pepnimenos), having soul or intelligence. Telemachus also shows that he has prowess worthy of a hero’s son when he joins with his father in the slaughter of the Suitors. It is other men, not the gods, who are rôle models for the young. All know that the gods in epics behave at best capriciously, at worst vindictively.59

55 ‘Iliad’ Book 1 lines 190-195. 56 Σως safe and φρην sense or wits hence common sense. 57 Socrates appears not to be sure what ‘self control’ is but he believes that it is ‘the best quality’ (μέτα τι αγαθόν). He also quotes from the ‘Iliad’ at his ’funeral’ oration, saying that like Achilles, he would prefer death to shame. (28c-d) 58 ‘Odyssey’ Book 15 line 77 59 Xenophanes in ’Fragments’ (6th Century B.C.E.) comments on the unacceptable behaviour of the gods as they are portrayed by both Homer and Hesiod. Aristophanes, in his play ‘The Clouds’ (Νεφελαι) asks how students can resist temptation when the gods cannot? (lines 1079-1082).

42 There are strong social undertones in epics as they provide models for behaviour generally and not just in combat. In the case of Homeric epics, they were created at the time of the collapse of the Cretan thalassocracy, while the Aeneid was begun a year before Octavian became Augustus and took sole control of Rome. The Morte was written during civil war in England and Marlowe’s saga during the boom times of oil and movies in California. Epics thus generally spring during times of social change.

The Odyssey and El Cid60 are the only epics which have a ‘happy’ ending, the former because it acts as a ‘peacetime’ counterpart for the Iliad, the latter because it was composed at a time that was close to the events which it portrays, namely the Reconquista the retaking of Spain and the expulsion of the Moors.

Loyalty is always a key issue in epic and the hero is often an intruder, an outsider, who seeks to unsettle the established culture and order of a particular society. Achilles comes from a remote part of the Hellenic world; the Cid is an outsider, albeit a noble one but from a minor and impoverished family. Aeneas is a Trojan refugee in Italy, Lancelot comes from the wild Lake country and Philip Marlowe is the archetypal ‘loner’, a ‘native son’, born in the small Californian town of Santa Rosa.

The intruder hero is often at loggerheads with the established king for several reasons but mostly because he does not have the responsibility of authority that the king has to bear. The hero thus can be interested only in his own reputation and more importantly, how it is perceived by his peer group. Just as Achilles’s conduct is detrimental to the good of his society, namely the achievement of a Greek victory over the Trojans, so is Marlowe’s conduct detrimental to the harmony (albeit one based on false values of greed and corruption) of his society. Marlowe delights in upsetting apple carts, District Attorneys, cops, rich men, Hollywood film stars, high society women, powerful underworld figures, anyone in fact who does not share his code of honour.

60 ‘Cantar de Mio Cid’ anonymous circa 1150. An epic of national identity written after the Reconquista. . Penguin London 1973. The word ‘Cid’ is from the Arabic for leader.

43 Northrop Frye provides a concise overview of the nature of epic. He notes that epic is very broad in scope, taking in all life and presenting it in such a way as the general truth that the presentation is recognized by all cultures universally, that is it presents war/peace; men/gods; life/death; honour/shame and love won/love lost in a comprehensive way.

It is hardly possible to over estimate the importance for Western culture of the demonstration by the ’Iliad’ that the fall of an enemy, no less than of a friend or leader, is tragic and not comic. With the ’Iliad’ once and for all an objective and disinterested element enters into the poet’s vision of human life. With this element poetry acquires the authority that since the ’Iliad’ it has never lost, an authority based, like the authority of science, on the vision of nature as an impersonal order.61

Aristotle tries to see the Iliad as unified in theme, but not everything flows from Achilles’s shame/wrath, so he refers to the profusion of episodes as an ‘organization of many stories.’62Homer leaves the stage to his personages, Aristotle notes with approval. The unity of an epic is provided by ‘the consciousness of an over-riding ethos which arises from an intuition of cosmic solidarity and continuity of life’, Bernstein claims63in his article.

This study identifies a number of constants about the epic. First and foremost, the action of epic has its own logic. The successful return home by Odysseus, the yielding of Hector’s body to Priam, the triumph of Aeneas in establishing a new homeland in Italy, the passing of Arthur and the entrance into Heaven by Lancelot, the finding of a woman to call his own by Marlowe, none of these need any explanation. The action completes a cycle of universal significance for all audiences, particularly those composed of males. The progress of the narrative itself carries the main burden of meaning. An appealing aspect of epic is the inclusiveness of the scope, everyone can identify with the protagonist even though he is a member of an aristocratic elite.64

61 Northrop Frye ‘Anatomy of Criticism’ Princeton 1957 page 139. 62 Συστεμα πολυμυθον ( systema polymython).Aristotle ‘Poetics’ chapter xxiv page 105. 63 Andrew Bernstein op.cit. supra. 64 It is significant that the hero becomes more approachable to the audience from Lancelot on, until he

44

Secondly, there is objectivity of treatment, all deaths are treated equally, all those killed become carrion and all go complaining to the nether world. Third, the tales have verisimilitude, the audience believes that these stories are (or could be) real and they are grievous. Fourth, the action has lasting significance as there is a difference between the epic and the merely heroic. The hero just does not kill his enemies but defends mankind against its enemies. Unless a hero is also a champion, mere heroism is an adolescent ideal, arrogant and irresponsible. Unflinching courage, a glorious personal transcendence of human limitations is always complemented by the ideal of responsibility towards one’s tribe.

It is relevant at this point to mention the various readings that are possible for the key texts under consideration in this study. The dominant reading, one that favours the beliefs and values of the primary audience for epic tales of heroes is one which is based on hegemony and patriarchy as a specific way of perceiving and ordering society. Hegemony65 tends to refer to the view that elites in society persuade the other classes that their interests are the interests of all and that domination by the upper class is by consent. Patriarchy reinforces this view and confines it to an androcentric power system. The language used in these texts can be seen to have fundamental contrasts, to contain a binary opposition; ‘man’ is good and thus by implication ‘woman’ is bad (only as the femme fatale and the enchantress) or subservient to the male; ‘war’ is the proper business of men; ‘peace’ offers no scope for deeds which bring everlasting glory. Similarly the (male) head always rules the (female) heart. Women are thus subordinated because the language discrimination is negative. Epics provide a template for hegemonic masculinity, a discipline which was begun as a part of ‘Men’s Studies’ in the United States in the 1980’s as a ‘second wave’ of feminism, to study men as individuals and not as filling rôles and performing the functions of soldier, father, dominant leader and so on.66

The classic works of epic dominated the thinking of intellectuals, the elite and even

becomes at least in social terms an ‘Everyman’ albeit an exceptional one. 65 Ήγεμονια ; (hegemonia) leadership; patriarchy from πατήρ (pater) father and αρχος (archos) commander.

45 constituted the curriculum of educated monarchs, beginning with Alexander the Great who saw himself as a reincarnation of Achilles.67 In this study’s reading of epic, the stereotype is that of the dominant male, referred to in psychological terms as the Alpha Male. Gender rôles were prescribed and deviations from these were severely punished. As a social system patriarchy gave men, generally of the warrior elite, a superior place and allowed them to exercise implacable authority over women and inferior males. Xenophon, in Oeconomics claims that the gods have chosen sexual differences and a differentiation of rôles between men and women for practical purposes68The rôle of queens in epic is to support the king and be subservient to him, audiences see too well what chaos results when Guinevere or Helen decide otherwise. They must be the mothers of the next generation of heroes and they nurture their sons until they are ready to be formed by tutors, mentors, sponsors who will eventually induct them as fully fledged members of the elite and exclusive band of men. The hegemonic and patriarchal point of view is one that always shines the brightest light on masculine aspirations and the bias is that ‘per se’ women are inferior beings. They are polarized into either ‘virgin’ (the Courtly Love tradition of the Matter of Arthur) or ‘whore’ (sirens, enchantresses, femmes fatales). They either support the male interests as Andromache, Penelope do, albeit unwillingly, or they strive to divert the hero from the path of virtue and nobility; this included virtually every other woman in the epic texts under consideration.

Thus, a feminist reading of these texts is not illuminating for this study whose focus is firmly on tracking, from his origins, the hero of the patriarchal, hegemonic society which has dominated Western civilization for several millennia. This dominance, it can be argued, has given rise to the ‘canon’ as the list of literary works that represent the traditions of a culture.69

66 Barbara Finlay, op.cit. supra, passim. 67 John Boardman et al. (editors) ‘The Oxford History of the Classical World’ O.U.P. 1992 Chapter 9 by Oswyn Murray ‘Life and Society in Classical Greece. Pages 204-234 passim 68Xenophon ‘Oeconomics’ chapter 7 lines 23-25. Loeb Classics no 90, 1998. The word means ‘housekeeping.’ 69 Harold Bloom ‘The Western Canon’ op.cit Pages 529-568 The Appendixes contain an annotated list of works that comprise what Bloom regards as the ‘canon’. He includes ‘Gilgamesh’, Homer’s works, ‘Beowulf’, ‘El Cid’, ‘Don Quixote’, Malory, Spencer but omits Chandler.

46 The example of one reading from a patristically hierarchical point of view, one that is generally accepted by male consumers of epic tales, is the interpretation of the hero’s words and his deeds. The Iliad constantly reinforces that ‘the word is the deed’70. Good deeds εσθλα (esthla) are not enough; the glory of the great deed resides in it being transmitted in an epic song. A hero must be pre eminent in both speaking and doing. Phoenix reminds us of the care he lavished on the education of Achilles in both skills.71Ajax, a tower of physical strength but not eloquent in councils, is thus not a complete hero. 72He bluntly states, ‘In war there is no place for words.’

These two aspects of heroics are inextricable as words need deeds to reach fulfilment just as deeds need words to survive beyond the act. The Iliad is about the outcome of death rather than the process that leads to it, actual combats are brief and the greater hero shows his stature by easily killing his opponent. This is in contrast with the duels in Malory where knights hew and hack at each other for hours. Fate, not fighting technique alone determines one’s end; that is the message that the ’Iliad’ provides the audience as it watches a hero such as Hector, splendid and vital, going down to the great nothingness of death, his breath being dragged out from his clenched teeth.

The end closed in around him, Flying free of his limbs his soul went winging down to the House of Death… Leaving his manhood behind him, his young and supple strength.73

Yet, his deeds live on because of a poet’s words.

Similarly, other ‘resistant readings’74are not relevant to this study. Dealing first with Queer Theory (QT), it is seen in Humanities Studies as an umbrella term for a coalition of marginal social identification or as a term that can be used to describe a nascent theoretical model which has developed out of the more traditional lesbian and gay studies. It could be

70 Έργον τε έπος τε ( ergon te epos te) ‘Iliad’ Book 2 line 272 and passim. 71 ‘Iliad’ Book 9 lines 438-443. 72 ‘Iliad’ Book 19 line 348. 73 ‘Iliad’ Book 22 lines390-410 passim, see also Chapter IV.

47 argued that QT, by giving critical attention to a concept of masculine behaviour, albeit a homosexual one, should have a place in this study dealing as it does with a particular and significant aspect of masculine behaviour, namely that of a hero. However, Annamarie Jagose75 states that Queer is unaligned to any specific identity and category and so it can be used in a number of discussions which focus on mismatches between sex, gender and desire. Further, Queer Theory describes ‘those gestures or analytical models which dramatise incoherencies in the allegedly stable relations between chromosomal sex, gender and desire.’

Jagose draws attention to the original development of QT by Teresa de Laurentis76 who abandoned the term some three years after coining it because it had been taken over by those mainstream forces and institutions it had been coined to resist. de Laurentis now presents QT as devoid of the political and critical acumen she once thought it promised. QT is now used in identity politics and its analytical framework includes such topics as cross-dressing, hermaphroditism, gender ambiguity and even gender-corrective surgery. QT, thus, works as a critique of identity rather than being an identity in itself. David Halprin 77 concurs as,

QT does not designate a class of already objectified pathologies or perversions, rather it describes a horizon of possibility whose precise extent and heterogenous scope cannot in principle be delimited in advance, so queer is always an identity under construction.

Clearly, the identity of the hero is not ‘under construction’, at best being one of continual modification of the same construct for about three millennia. Thus, QT can be excluded from possible readings of the key texts for the reasons outlined above and for the fact that as these texts do not show any marginalization of homosexuals, with the possible

74 Defined as those that are ideologically different from the mainstream reading of the text. 75 Annamarie Jagose ‘Queer Theory’ University of Melbourne Press (1996). 76 Teresa de Laurentis ‘Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities. differences: a Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies’.3.2,pages xiii to xvii. 77 David Halprin ‘Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography’. New York, Oxford University Press,1995.

48 exception of the attitude of Marlowe.78 In addition, heterosexual relationships are not portrayed as being the only ones that are emotionally fulfilling; brotherhood and fellowship are powerful emotional bonds in epic. The homoerotic component of that behaviour is examined later in this study as it pertains to two of the heroes discussed, namely Achilles and Marlowe.

This study does not dismiss the notion that Queer Theory has not developed a body of work that has an impact on any discussion of modern masculine behaviour. Rather, the study focuses on the behaviour of males in situations of armed combat and of physical conflict, and therefore it has limited itself to masculine behaviour in only this area of interaction between men.

With the notable exception of the love triangle in the Morte, there is little competing sexual desire in any of the texts under examination, thus a psychological, Freudian reading of these works would not shed any light on the nature of the hero.

Issues of class, race, and gender are also viewed through the prism of cultural materialism and of Marxism. Both of these readings can offer some fresh insight into the texts. The classical epics clearly reinforce the circulation of power in the dominant structure of society, the warrior elite. The cultural icons such as the King and the Warrior Hero are unchallenged in the mediaeval epic of Malory also. Even Marlowe, while personally despising the rich and the corrupt way in which big money is made, has no wish to dismantle the structure of his society. As for race, the hero of each epoch has the prejudices of his time, from the Argives referring to all non-Greek speakers as βαρβαροι (barbarians) because their speech sounds like the bleating of sheep, to the Roman mission statement, ‘debellare superbos’ to bring down the proud, that is, all those who oppose them. Marlowe frequently uses words like ‘spick’, ‘shine’ and ‘chink’ but does not behave towards them in any way that would suggest ingrained racism. The values and ideas of the elite are similar to those of the rest of society. There is no evidence of class struggle in epic as everyone knows his place in the hierarchy of society. It can be argued, however,

78 See Marlowe’s ambivalent attitude towards ‘queers’ in Chapter IX

49 that the predominance of epics on the curriculum of both religious and secular government schools may well have shaped the cultural formation of the young and thus encouraged them to have a conservative outlook. The ‘deconstructionist’ reading advocated by Jacques Derrida,79 identifies the language of binary opposition in terms of who is dominant in political/power/terms rather than in the moral ones of ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

Epic is unambiguous as to where the power in society lies, it is with those who control the destinies of many men, namely, the kings and the heroes.

It is significant to note that these epics that have been ‘in print’ since they first appeared for public consumption. Their authors were very much ‘outsiders’ in their own cultures. Homer (if he did exist at all as an individual, a polemic which is outside the scope of this discussion) composed in the 8th Century B.C.E. but set his story in the 14th Century B.C.E, yet his characters behave like the Bronze Age warriors who were his contemporaries. The Homeric epics were written down from oral sources possibly around the 6th Century B.C.E. in Athens, while preserving the archaic Old Ionic dialect. Aristarchus and his teacher Aristophanes, who was also his predecessor in the post of Librarian at the Great Library in Alexandria, subsequently heavily revised these written works around the 2nd Century B.C.E.

Virgil was a provincial from Northern Italy who rather reluctantly found his way to Rome where he unsuccessfully and very briefly, practised law. He was so shy and retiring that he did not even read his own works aloud to close friends but had a professional rhapsode do it instead. He gave instructions to destroy the Aeneid while he lay dying, as he had not been able to revise it. Fortunately for posterity his literary executors, virtually under Imperial command, edited, revised and published the epic. It is impossible to say with confidence just how much of the resulting work was pure Virgil, but this polemic is outside the scope of this presentation.

79 Michael Parker and Fiona Morrison ‘Masters in Pieces, the English Canon for the Twenty First Century’ Cambridge University Press 2006 page 18

50 Malory’s life was in ruins and he wrote the Morte while he was in prison during the catastrophic Wars of the Roses.

Raymond Chandler fell prey to alcohol and incompetence and started writing in middle age after he had been dismissed from his post as an executive of a Californian oil company. One of the constants that link the epics under scrutiny is the feeling of distance from the reality of the lives of each of these authors. It is possible that this feeling of being disconnected from society may have prompted the creation of works that express a longing for the golden age of a past era.

In addition to their isolation, what were the significant influences on these writers? The range of experience of their lives gave each an individual narrative voice which is as distinctive as it is powerful. It is clear that the composer of the Iliad had seen real combat and men dying violently, whereas we have some sympathy with Napoleon’s comment on Virgil that he writes of battle like the Regent of a Military Academy.80 The force of his epic is in the character of the hero, so derivative of his Greek predecessors, yet so typically Roman with its emphasis on ‘pietas’ devotion to duty. As for the person widely accepted as the author of the Morte, his life reads like a work of fiction, being even described as ‘a hardened criminal’. He knew both the highs of victory and the lows of defeat in arms, the feelings of someone abandoned both by fortune and men’s eyes.

Chandler’s life had extraordinary elements to it, such as being the sole survivor of a platoon of Canadian Gordon Highlanders hit by a fragmentation shell in a World War I trench. He also lived for the first part of his adult life with his mother and after her death married a woman who was some twenty years his senior.

The very marrow of epic, however, is the theme of ‘nostalgia’ from the two Greek words νοστος homecoming and άλγέω, feeling pain, a longing for the ‘golden age’ of the past. Other themes which run through all the texts under discussion are ‘ruina’, the crumbling of society either from within or due to violent foreign invaders who accelerate the

80 ‘National Geographic’ Article on Napoleon Volume 176 no 1 July 1989.

51 destruction of a society that has already begun to collapse from within. ‘Ira’ and ‘furor’, ‘insania’ and αίδώς (aidos) or even μανία, (mania)81 are all examples of the emotions of the hero when he ‘takes leave of his senses’. The hero typically exchanges a long life for everlasting glory or ‘fama’ and he often dies alone, disillusioned and betrayed. If he does survive his life of action, he is bored and disappointed. These themes are complemented by the longing for an ordered society; for heroes alleviating the suffering of the weak while destroying the arrogant; and most importantly for the fellowship between males, the camaraderie and loyalty of αγαπη (agape) for which in Australian English, the closest approximation is ‘mateship’.82Another recurrent theme is the plangent ubi sunt question, where are they now the great men of yore, a sorrowful lament for heroic glories that are now past.

These concepts become somewhat diluted as they travel through time and pass across cultures, but they remain a significant part of what it is to be a hero.

A very brief reference needs to be made at this point to the themes of the Anglo Saxon saga, Beowulf.83 The hero motif is central to these epics, the treasure giving, the need for a protector/ruler, the delight in battle, the need to live ‘fittingly’, to avenge a blood feud and to be aware of the force of ‘wyrd’ (fate, the inevitable pattern of things) which invariably leads to exile and ruin.

The language is strongly formulaic for the oral ‘texts’ and archaic words and expressions are used to give the stories the authority of past ages. There are plenty of ‘stock’ two- dimensional characters in epics but the protagonist is drawn subtly in spite of meeting all the requirements for the ‘hero’ type. There are also plenty of formulaic echoes such as the catalogue of ships in the Iliad being reproduced as the roll call of Knights in the Morte. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Homer has been greatly flattered through the ages. He has even been parodied by humorists such as the Canadian Stephen Leacock

81 Uncontrollable anger, fury, being out of one’s mind, shame, obsession. 82 Note also the recurrent themes of ruina, destruction; ira, anger; furor, rage; insania; out of one’s mind, insanity; aidos, shame; mania, obsession. 83 Chapter VI. This text is treated in more detail in the section dealing with the epic revival during the

52 84 who wrote a satirical parody of the ‘catalogue’ in Homer by listing the roll call of locomotives and their drivers of the Canadian Railways. His purpose, very much tongue in cheek, was to deflate the notion that anything written in Classical Greek needs to be accorded great significance, at least by sections of the literary establishment.

The onomastic85 quality of names is significant; Odysseus is ‘the trouble maker’, Achilles is ‘he whose host of fighting men has grief’86, Aeneas is ‘commanded’, with the additional suggestion of being a man of bronze, Arthur is Celtic for ‘noble warrior’ (and arcturus is Latin for ‘bear’). Lancelot is from the French for ‘spear carrier’. This concept of a hero/knight is of ‘one who serves’, rather than a ‘servant’ in the contemporary sense of the word. Philip Marlowe combines the Greek ‘lover of horses’ (φιλος ίπποι) philos hippoi, in the sense of a ‘cavalier’, with the deliberate link on the part of Chandler87 to the saturnine character Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s sea stories of journeys in sailing ships in exotic locations.

The characteristics of the personality of the hero are numerous, yet they remain constant through the passage of time. The constant presence of works on the hero and the quest point to the existence of a need or a longing in the masculine psyche to engage with this type of character. It may also be possible that from time to time official sources encourage this type of portrayal for adolescent males to consume in order to produce young men who will go to war for the State. There is a chilling passage in that excellent account of combat by U.S. soldiers in Vietnam, Despatches by Michael Herr. It relates how the soldiers who had been brought up on a diet of Hollywood war films rapidly learnt that combat was not all guns blazing and that the ‘good’ did not always triumph over the ‘bad’. Indeed, the good did not always behave more honourably than the bad. These experiences are

Victorian era as it was not available until then in a readily accessible form 84 Stephen Leacock ‘Homer and Humbug’, From ‘Behind the Beyond’ (1913) in the Bodley Head Leacock ed.J.B. Priestley 1957 85 Όνομα (onoma) name. A person’s name reflects a quality that the person has or that the parents would like the child to have e.g. naming girls Prudence, Hope, Melissa, Linda etc. 86 Katherine Callen King ‘Achilles, Paradigms of the War Hero from Homer to the Middle Ages’ University of California Press, Berkley 1987. She agrees with Nagy ‘The Best of the Achaeans’ op.cit. infra. about the meaning of Akhilauos. 87 See Chapter IX where both Chandler and Marlowe refer to the name.

53 described in psychological terms in Jonathan Shay’s book Achilles in Vietnam; it appears that the only experience that was different for warriors between the paddy fields of Vietnam and the plain of Troy is the horror of ‘friendly fire’; being killed by the bombardments of one’s own side. The change from warrior to soldier is a notable development in the character of the hero.88

The characteristics of the hero include the particulars of his birth, either as a semi divine being or as an outsider. The relationship with the father is significant as heroes have usually an absent father and are brought up by a mentor or surrogate father. The hero’s education is secluded, not ‘public’ and the hero develops considerable skills at male bonding. His relationship with his mother is a close one and she is generally ‘overprotective’, for example in the instances of Venus and Thetis. Odysseus’s mother dies of longing for him. However, this affinity between mother and son does not translate into a similar closeness by the hero with a spouse or with other women. His children are either an exact replica as in the case of Neoptolemos and Ascanius or more often a major disappointment. In the case of Arthur, he is killed by his own son Mordred who has also destroyed Arthur’s entire world. None of the heroes begets daughters and Marlowe is unmarried and childless.

The ideals of loyalty, respect for authority and the motivation of a quest for honour are essential components of a hero’s character. The hero is also motivated by curiosity; a desire for fame that will outlast his own lifetime and a hunger for real truth and justice and not their simulacra that society wants its members to accept. To succeed in his quest, the hero must have spiritual purity and this often creates the major inner conflict for the hero to overcome. The hero is cursed with either an early lonely death or an old age of frustration and boredom.

The hero goes on a quest, at times with reluctance, that will be a boon to his fellows and he is often faced with flight or exile. The accoutrements of the hero are important,

88 And back again, as is shown in Chapter X. See Chapter X, Jonathan Shay ‘Achilles in Vietnam’.op.cit. infra

54 although naturally, weaponry changes with developments in technology. The classical hero fights on foot with edged weapons while the knight has heavy armour, a charger and a lance. Pistols are used by Marlowe (but surprisingly seldom, as physical violence is not a major feature of his battles). He does, however, have great skill at winning arguments and eloquence is a heroic quality.

It is probable that firearms have made the combat aspect of epic redundant. Heroes realise that ‘God created men but Colonel Sam Colt made them equal’.89 Modern warfare is impersonal and conducted at a distance, yet there is still the horror of hand-to-hand fighting in Korea and at Khe San90 and Long Tan in Vietnam and more recently, the bayonet charge by the Scots Guards at Mount Tumbledown in the Falklands. John Lash makes the point that the superior potency of modern weapons may be one possible explanation that, more than ever before, there is a continuing desire by men to connect with a human hero engaged in struggle. The personal weapon carried by the modern equivalent of a hoplite, for example, fires several thousand high-velocity, armour- piercing rounds per minute. The nuclear weapons that can vapourize entire cities have all but eclipsed the human-based power of the hero.91

The current hero of the 21st Century shares many of the conventional characteristics, including the physically attractive and imposing physique. He is likely to be a sportsman, a modern form of ‘athlete’, meaning simply a ‘contestant’ in Greek, who fights for rewards and not the glory of the classical Olympic competitor. The sporting hero often wears the ‘halo’ of the hero and because he has one set of positive attributes such as physical prowess, he is often ascribed other positive qualities which in reality he does not possess. Defiance figures are popular heroes in Australia such as, the bushranger Ned Kelly 92or the cricketer Shane Warne.

89 Advertising slogan for the release of the Colt 45 six shot revolver in the U.S, in 1860. A later sales slogan was ‘The best armed are the bravest’. (1871) 90 Fought in March 1967, it was the first televised battle of the Vietnam War, called the ‘American War’ by the Vietnamese. 91 John Lash ‘The Hero, Manhood and Power’ Thames & Hudson, London, 1995.Page 17 92 He was also sporting hero ,once winning a bare-knuckle fight of 26 rounds, being a horse-breaker and

55 Epic literature has produced parodies and emulations of the classic stories; Ulysses by James Joyce turns the Homeric hero into an extremely ordinary Everyman who is an outsider in his own society. There is worthy adventure to be had just walking around the streets of Dublin on 16th June 1904. Cold Mountain has its hero, symbolically named Inman, undertake both a ‘nostos’ and an inner journey towards self-knowledge. Both novels closely mirror specific episodes of the Odyssey.93 The science fiction/fantasy film Star Wars is described by its creator George Lucas as being a deliberate reworking of the Arthurian material only in an exotic futuristic setting. 94

The remainder of the discussion deals with a number of related issues that are examined within the context of the hero. These include the society of the hero and of his audience and the movement from agrarian societies to those of a modern metropolis. This change shows the development of the characterization, context and setting of the epic from ‘primary’ to ‘secondary’ types.95 The contrast between the natural and the supernatural world of the hero is mentioned, as are the nature of the text and its method of dissemination, including translation and the transformation from oral to written to cinematic form.

Significantly, all of the major texts in this discussion have been made into films with varying degrees of critical or commercial success. In mid 2004, a film entitled ‘Troy’; starring the major Hollywood star, Brad Pitt as Achilles was released.96

Finally, the audience: who were they and who do they continue to be, these people who have kept these texts alive continuously since they were first created, who have a drive to be like the hero, at the centre of their own life?

amateur jockey and being awarded a medal while still a boy for rescuing a child from drowning. 93 See Chapter III for a more detailed comment on the transformation of the hero, particularly Odysseus. 94 ‘George Lucas and Star Wars’. An extensive interview for a biography of Joseph Campbell entitled ‘Joseph Campbell, A fire in the Mind’ Stephen Larsen and Robin Larsen Pages 541-545. Robertson, Vermont, Imer Tradition 2002 95 Discussed in Chapter II 96 ‘The Canberra Times’ 20th October 2008 reported that Brad Pitt was planning to make a film version of ‘The Odyssey’. David Malouf has a novel retelling the story of the ‘Iliad’ in preparation (Conversation with Sergio Sergi at the National Library, Canberra, 25th June 2008.)

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The original audiences for epic and those who sponsored its creators were male and aristocratic. Recitations took place in banqueting halls but also at funerals and even in the market places, as well as at religious festivals where the common people heard these tales recited to them. Since the Iliad and the Odyssey each took some twenty hours to recite their 28,000 or so lines, only selections of the epics were presented at each gathering. Gradually audiences became more representative of the (male) population as a whole and thus the content and narrative framework of the epic permeated the very fabric of society and in addition, epic diction was ‘ossified’ in the Homeric form. The epic poet, or rather the ‘rhapsode’ or the orator who gave him voice, was the custodian of the past. Greeks believed, and still do in many regards, that the epics are, if not about the real deeds of their ancestors, at least a record of their emotional and moral history.

The Romans also felt the moral weight of the Greek classics. The Latin grammarian Longinus found the Iliad ‘sublime because of its command of full-blooded ideas, inspirations of emotion, proper use of characters, nobility of phrase and general effect’.97 The Aeneid, virtually commissioned by Augustus as an epic to glorify the State, took an equally long time to recite in its entirety. However, it was very quickly published in ‘book’ form and thus become one of the first epics to be consumed as ‘text’. Professional readers recited it at banquets and private dinner parties, with both men and women present. It rapidly entered the literary scene as a published text for reading in private and public libraries. Horace tells us that it was a school text and it was drummed into boys for its historical as well as for its moral benefits.

The audience of the Morte was also primarily aristocratic males who could afford the expensive books and who had the required skills for reading English text. The large households had a sprinkling of literate ladies who were educated in the devotional texts but who also read the secular romances. It was often these ladies who were charged with improving upon the rudiments of literacy imparted on the pages of the household by the

97Cassius Longinus quoted in Gian Biagio Conte ‘Manuale Storico della Letteratura Latina dalle origini alla fine del impero romano’ Casa Editrice Felice Le Monnier 1987 Firenze pagina 3396.

57 resident clergy. Thus the mediaeval warrior class developed an appetite for the tales of the beaux gestes of fictional secular heroes.

The printing press largely expanded the range of the audience for epic adventures as books became more readily available for the increasing numbers of literate men and women. In any period of rapid transition, such as existed when each of these epic works was produced, the heroic writer upholds the traditional and nostalgic moral and social values. In times of upheaval audiences crave old fashioned heroes, knights in shining armour. Perhaps it is because of the uncertainties of the present world scene that there is a current resurgence of classical epic studies and new translations.

Raymond Chandler took the knight out of his shining armour and put him in a powder- blue suit with a display handkerchief in the top pocket of his double-breasted jacket. Philip Marlowe begins his quest in The Big Sleep the first of seven novels, which form the epic tale of this hero's life.98 Marlowe has been summoned to the mansion of the retired General Sternwood a millionaire recluse in failing health. While standing in the atrium of the house, Marlowe sees a large stained glass window at one end of the room. He immediately identifies with the knight depicted in the stained glass. However, the knight appears ineffectual while Marlowe muses that in a similar situation he would not fumble but would prevail, cut the bonds holding the ‘damsel in distress’ to the tree and rescue her, something that he attempts to do throughout the many episodes of his ‘quest’.

Epic deals with death, violence and sacrifice, but it removes the pain associated with these from the audience’s actual experience. E.V. Rieu, the legendary translator of the Iliad and the Odyssey99 was largely instrumental in bringing classical epic within the reach of ‘everyman’ due both by the brilliance and the simplicity of his presentation and by the publication of the works in cheap paperback editions. His translation of the Odyssey was

98 Chandler’s novels were published in ‘hard covers’ in the United Kingdom before they were published in the U.S. However, it was their availability in cheap paperback editions that contributed to the rapid spread of these stories. 99 Since first published in Penguin paperback by Alan Lane in 1946, this version of the ‘Odyssey’ alone has sold 2.5 million copies.

58 used to launch the Penguin Classics Series. Christopher Ricks100 noted that each age needs to ask what form the hero can take and that Achilles, Odysseus and Aeneas continue to provide the original pattern. In his view, there are two issues that are relevant to what it means to be a hero; the first is to appreciate that individuals do make a difference and the second is what rôle is played by chance, do the gods dice with the lives of mortals? As well as the Arthurian stories, Ricks reminds us, it was the translations of Virgil and Homer that were the first books printed in English. E. V. Rieu notes that Homer’s poetry has survived the collapse of two civilizations; the implosion of Hellenic and the dissolution of the Roman, yet it has endured and it is constantly being recast, the same material in a new guise.101 Rieu summed up the enduring appeal of the epic as the heroic art form thus, noting that it lent

emotional as well as physical distance between the audience and an event, and thus makes it pleasant to contemplate that which would be painful to experience or even to witness.102

100 Christopher Ricks, editor of the Penguin Poets in Translation, quoted in an interview in ‘The Economist’, published also in ‘The Australian’ January 1st 1996. He also notes that the Harvard Press’ Loeb Classics (some 500 titles) produces half a dozen new translations each year. 101 Two major recasts in modern garb are the ‘Omeros’ of Derek Walcott (1992 Nobel Prize for Literature) set in the Caribbean and of Nikos Katantzakis, ‘Odyssey; a Modern Sequel’ which follows Odysseus’s wanderings and he meets a host of ‘heroes’ including ‘Kapetan Enas’( Don Quixote). Published in Modern Greek in 1938, translated into English in 1958. See also Chapter III. 102 E.V.Rieu the ‘Odyssey’, Introduction, Folio Society 1998 London. Page viii

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CHAPTER II FROM ΒΊΗ TO ΜΗΤΙΣ : HOW THE WARRIOR BECAME A LEADER.

… the generall destrucion of that noble cyte of Troye. And the deth of so many noble prynces, and kynges, dukes, erles, barons, knyghtes and comyn people … whiche may be ensample to all men durying the world how dredefull and ieopardous it is to begynne a warre, and what harmes losses and deth followeth.

Epilogue to Book III of the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, William Caxton 1473.

Part a i The nature of Homeric epic and of its hero. Achilles, the central character of the Iliad is the first in a long line of heroes in the epic genre of Western literature. As such, he is a prototype rather than archetype. Homer endows his creation with all the physical, emotional and indeed superhuman characteristics of the warrior hero. He is young, semi-divine, beautiful and physically imposing as well as having unbeatable prowess with arms. The Iliad, with its message of the immense cost and ultimate destructive futility of war, is nevertheless a glorification of the warrior hero, albeit one who is tragic. The Iliad ends with the funeral rites of one champion, Hector, and with intimations of the death of another, Achilles himself.

Homer’s ‘sequel’ to the Iliad1selects one of the victorious Greek warriors at Troy, Odysseus, and traces his journey home. In doing so, it develops further the concept of heroic warrior by stressing other characteristics of the hero additional to his skill in combat. ‘The Odyssey’ is an epic of nostos, a home coming2 and it contains a series of episodic adventuring as well as the hero’s own story of his twenty year absence from his rocky island home of Ithaca. Odysseus, unlike in other epics in which he is mentioned, is described sympathetically and with compassion in this story that is his own epic. In

1 The issues regarding composition of the Greek epics (‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’), the discrepancies between the oral and written traditions and the very existence of Homer himself fall outside the scope of this discussion. 2 Νόστος the concept of a homecoming that has benefits for the returning hero’s community. In the ‘IIiad’ Achilles does not return home. On the other hand, Menelaus’ ships are so laden with Trojan booty that their gunwales are level with the sea. Odysseus arrives home in rags after an absence of twenty years

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other works of classical literature, he fares badly as his less socially admirable characteristics, such as his deviousness and cunning, are allowed full rein3. In the Iliad Homer focuses on the young warrior and his peers. In the Odyssey, we see the mature man, one who did not want to go to Troy in the first place4 whose feats of daring and cunning surpass his feats of arms and who endures the enmity of the gods for almost ten years. Only then do they relent and permit him to conclude his perilous journey home where his wife and son await him. Odysseus is a man whose character has been tempered by vicissitudes and tribulations.

It is for Virgil, however, the heir of Homer5 to show how the impetuous, violent warrior prey to rages of pride and anger has matured. He has become a man who still has all the physical prerequisites of the captain-at-arms but who has a quality unknown to Achilles, that of ‘pietas’, a sense of duty to the will of the gods and a sense of destiny with which to lead men into a triumph.

This Trojan refugee, Aeneas, who is a relatively minor character in the Iliad, is metamorphosed into the archetypal Roman. He is a man of war but also one of sorrow. He loses his wife in the sack of Troy, saving only his son and aged father along with the ‘lares et penates’ [the Palladium]6. He has a deeply felt but impossible love affair with Dido, the Queen of Carthage, and it is this, as much as the military struggles in Italy against Turmus and Mezentius that matures Aeneas into a man fit to found a great nation. The hero is still wrathful to his enemies and implacable and invincible in physical combat, but he is a king with a great destiny. It is Aeneas who becomes the stereotype for the hero in Western literary epic, such as Arthur, Lancelot and ultimately the ‘private eye’ as hero in the ‘shining armour’ of righteousness.

Aeneas’s dream of founding a new Troy is shattered by the gods who direct him to found a new people in a far away land. (Italy). 3 ‘Aeneid ‘Bk 2 line 44 Laocoon in an attempt to prevent the Trojans dragging the wooden horse inside the city gates, screams ‘Is that what you know Ulysses for?’ 4 Odysseus is reluctant to go to war and feigns madness by ploughing the beach with an ox and a goat sowing salt in the furrows. Palamedes exposes the ruse by placing the infant Telemachus in the path of the plough. The account is given in the later epic the Cypria. 5 Voltaire said that Homer’s best creation was Virgil. Quoted in Peter Jones ‘Classics in translation ‘Duckworth London 1998 page 4. 6 ‘Aeneid’ Book 2 concluding lines. The statue of Aeneas in the Forum in Rome was of the ‘three generations’ Anchises on Aeneas’s shoulders with the boy Ascanius walking along beside him holding his hand. See illustration; statue by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Galleria Borghese, Rome.(appendices)

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This distinction in heroes reflects the distinction between the two types of epic, which can be termed ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ epic7. In the former, Achilles is a mortal who has an uneasy relationship with the gods, but who acts independently: it is the exercise of his will, his perception of the wrongs done to him which dictate his actions. It is his interpretation of the code of a warrior’s honour which results in his feelings of shame.

Aeneas has no such freedom of action, as pietas reins him in. The ‘secondary’ epic is produced deliberately by a sophisticated society such as that of Augustan Rome, for a specific purpose that borders on political propaganda. It was used by the Romans not only to provide a sanction for Augustus’ principate after the sanguinary chaos of the civil wars, but also to justify Rome’s expansionist policy of military conquest. In effect, aristocratic elite ruled both Homeric and Augustan societies. In the former aristeia8 of the warrior was pre-eminent, the lust for self-aggrandisement and glory. In the latter, pietas9 was combined with virtus, the courage of manhood and harnessed for the common good of a new entity called ‘Roma’. The morals of this new civilisation required a balance between private good and general welfare of the state and its citizens. The morality of the heroic age of the Homeric society was founded on individuality.

In Homer, a good man is someone who is imposing and his actions are admirable. The gods are ‘unapproachably good’ – Joyous Thunderer, Cloud-Gatherer, Father of Men are some of Zeus’ epithets, yet he is not perfect. He is an habitual liar and his moral behaviour and that of the other gods is cynical, cruel and unscrupulous. Homer’s god of war Ares is described as ‘man-destroying’ and he is accompanied by Terror, Rout and Strife. He is blind and with unseeing eyes set in a swine’s face, he stirs up all evil10. The goddess Athena does battle with him as she seeks to protect the Greeks from the merciless blood lust of this bully and when he is brought low by her hand ‘he spreads over seven acres in his fall, Pallas Athena spoke the winged words of triumph’11. Homeric Greeks showed no pity towards a vanquished foe, so Lascelles Abercrombie12

7 Richard Jenkins ’Classical epic; Homer and Virgil’ Bristol Classical Press 1992 page 55. Jenkins explains the difference between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ epic, the former being the natural product of a primitive society, the latter of a more sophisticated one. 8 Άριστέιά always has the connotation of heroism. 9 The word means a strict adherence to doing one’s duty to the gods and the state. 10Iliad Bk.4 lines 439-445 Ares androphonoio (man destroying) Ares; Deimos; Phobos; Eris. Terror, Rout, Strife) 11 Iliad Bk 21 line 405 12 ‘The Epic’ Lascelles Abercrombie London Martin Secker 1968 page 13

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reminds readers not to superimpose their values on those of the ancients. ‘Only those who would have Homer as a kind of Salvationist need regret this’.

A ‘bad’ man is not necessarily ‘evil’ in the Christian moral sense of the word but in a result oriented society only success counts. The ‘unsuccessful’ in Homer are spectacularly so; undistinguished, a whinger and the ugliest man in the army to boot: Thersites’ beating at the hands of Odysseus is an example of what happens to the unheroic13, ‘a man who is of no account in war or in counsel’. The aristocratic Thoas commander of the Aetolians goes so far as to suggest, and his advice is followed, that the Greek common troops should be sent back to the ships so that ‘let us, who can claim to be the best men amongst the host, stand firm’14.

This description of an event in the narrative is a typical example of the narrative technique of epic poetry in its infancy. The convention of Homeric narration is rigidly objective. There is no nostalgia for the passing of the Mycenaean civilisation, nor is there any malice shown towards its destroyers. In reality, Homer was more ignorant of the Mycenaean age than we are ourselves after more than a century of archaeological excavations. Homer tells us, for example, that the King’s palace needed ‘fifty maids’ to make it function whereas the reality is that it needed several hundred. It is now agreed that Homer uses the word ‘fifty’ when he really means ‘a lot’. A notable anachronism in Homer is the cremation of the dead, with the ashes covered with a mound of earth: the Mycenaeans built fine tombs for their dead. The details of Homer, such as shields and swords and personal decorations are inconsistent and anachronistic. It is this blurring of the past and present and the hints to the future that stretches the narrative of the Iliad beyond the fifty or so concluding days of a ten-year war.

Homer’s narratology examines the sequence and the emphasis of the narrative: the audience is aware not simply of’ ‘what happens’ but is made to appreciate ‘how it is described’, hence its real significance beyond the actual event itself. The real focus of the narrative, however, is on the presentation of the hero, what he says and what he does. Homer gives his audience confidential asides replete with irony, for example, the

13 Iliad Bk 2 Line 202. 14 Iliad Bk 15 line 284.

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ominous remarks that follow Hector’s promise to Dolon of the horses of Achilles.15 At the time that Achilles refuses Agamemnon’s overtures for a conclusion to the quarrel, he believes that he will return to his home at the end of the war unscathed: the audience knows that he will die shortly after the conclusion of the poem.

Homer uses the technique of delayed action to engage the audience who knows what is coming but not how or when. For example, Achilles appears at the beginning of the poem but then does not reappear until Book 9 and when he re-emerges his pride as well as his anger is white hot and adamantine.

This method of narration also stresses the distinction between the poet’s authorial point of view and that of his characters and pays particular attention to the passages in which this distinction is blurred or ambiguous. Instead of taking the well-known story for granted, the audience is encouraged to look more attentively at the way in which it is told. Characters advance the story line by their dialogue but also provide a detailed exposition of what constitutes the Homeric hero and what his system of values was. The 25,000 lines of the Iliad give the audience a taste of the heroic age, its beliefs, code of ethics, customs and limitations. It contains a graphic account of life in the concluding period of the Bronze Age, more than exists for any other period in Greece until the late 5th Century BCE. It shows not only what it was like for an Achaean warrior on campaign, but also how much these heroes missed the peaceful life of their homes. Most importantly is shows the consequences of the warriors’ aristeia on others. The pursuit of ‘self aggrandisement’, one definition of ‘glory’, is shown stripped of all self delusion, as when Achilles says to Priam who has come to claim Hector’s body ‘I sit far from my fatherland and give grief to you and to all your children16’ Andromache, mourning over the dead body of Hector, tells her young son what to expect. ‘You will follow me to labour somewhere at harsh, degrading work under some heartless master’s eye’ or worse, ‘to be hurled head long from the ramparts’ by some warrior bent on getting revenge on Hector who ‘was no man of mercy in the horror of battle’.17

15 Iliad Bk 15, line 289 16 Iliad Bk 24, line 540-542 17 Iliad Bk 24, lines 725-738

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Achilles is the affliction in the Iliad and he knows it, just as he ultimately recognises the limits of his own life, his honour and his reputation in combat. He revels in his fury which is ‘sweeter than honey18’ and he undoes it only towards the conclusion of the poem. He is aggrieved and makes up his losses of face by giving full rein to what Peter Toohey calls ‘the heroic impulse’19, the socially sanctioned mode of behaviour permitted to elite warriors. One positive example of this impulse is provided by Diomedes, another by Sarpedon who tells Glaucon his reasons for engaging in combat; first, it is to validate the esteem in which he is held by his peers and secondly it is to earn eternal glory.20 Achilles misuses this impulse by an excess of concern of how Agamemnon’s offence would be perceived by the fellow warriors and secondly by his lack of control. He eventually has his ‘trophy’ woman Briseis returned, in pristine condition21, on his terms but at the terrible cost in loss of Argive lives. He shows no self-control either at the death of Patroklos, being enveloped ‘in a cloud of grief’. 22 He avenges the death of his kinsman and favourite by killing the slayer, Hector. Further, he honours the ghost of Patroklos by providing a burial with ceremonies that are both splendid and horrific23.

The audience knows that Achilles has his own heroic role models. At supper,24 ‘he pleases his heart, plucking his lyre, singing of deeds of fighting heroes’. The values that Achilles absorbs from these deeds and from his culture of an aristocratic warrior class are labelled arete, the quality of a warrior. It is worthwhile enumerating some of these values of Homeric heroic behaviour. The most important, perhaps, is time25 (honour), which is respect from one’s peers. It is this value which really lies at the heart of Achilles’s furious rage, made all the worse by his impotence at being able to deal with it while his blood is hot: simply, he feels that he has lost the respect of his fellow ‘heroes’ by surrendering a ‘trophy’ won in combat. Briseis should be from Agamemnon a geras, a gift of honour, in which case Agamemnon would display charis26 an act of generosity bestowed by a chieftain. Instead, Achilles is offended because Agamemnon breaks with

18 Iliad Bk 19, lines 54-56 19 Peter Toohey ‘What is an epic hero’ Antichthon, Australian Society of Classical Studies 1990. 20 Iliad Bk 12 lines 310-324. 21 Iliad Bk 19, line 263 22 Iliad Bk 18 lines 22 following 23 Iliad Bk 23 entire book is devoted to the funeral for Patroklos. 24 Iliad Bk 9 240-260 and 186-189. 25 Τιμή privilege, which goes with esteem always positive. 26 Χάρις grace, good will, hence χάρισμα the gift of grace from the gods (charisma).

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social tradition in the presence of an audience of peers which places Achilles outside of his aristocratic community. Donna Wilson27 has a detailed discussion of the concepts of ‘ransom’ and ‘revenge’ as interpreted by Homeric heroes. In particular, she correctly argues that Achilles and Agamemnon are locked in a struggle for dominance, using competing and conflicting definitions of loss that requires ransom, απονία (aponia) and of the nature of compensation and reparation, which involves ποινε (poine) revenge. Nestor counsels Achilles to defer to Agamemnon because he has more kudos than other men have, he is a ‘sceptre-bearing king’, skeptouchos basileus (σκηπτουχος βασιλευς)28 and Achilles reluctantly concurs. This engenders aidos29 (shame) and Achilles regards himself as being treated as ‘a dishonoured vagabond30’. In his essay on Homeric values, Peter Walcot notes that modern peasant societies in rural Greece of today still admire these ‘heroic’ characteristics, although aidos was later called sophrosyne31. The quality of metis32 (cleverness, shrewdness) is much admired33, unchanged from that displayed by its chief Homeric exponent, Odysseus. Achilles repudiates any form of deceit, even though skilful deceit was valued in his culture. For this hero, it is ‘hateful that a man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another’34.

Aristotle in his Politics35 describes the arete of a ‘good man’ and enumerates characteristics that he says are different from those of the Homeric hero. He places sophia36 general wisdom and phronesis37 moral wisdom at the top of his list. Certainly few would argue that Achilles or indeed Odysseus possesses these specific qualities even in small quantities. The wisdom of heroes is the fruit of experience, not of intelligence or of bookish cleverness. Their wisdom is that of common sense. Nevertheless, both men gain if not wisdom, at least understanding at the conclusion of their respective epics. Neither hero shows much sophrosyne (temperance, self-control),

27 Donna Wilson ‘Ransom, revenge and heroic identity in the Iliad Cambridge University Press 2002. 28 The word basileus is used throughout Homer and is usually translated as King. It needs to be remembered that this is not a monarch like Arthur even but rather the chief of a clan, a warrior who is both ‘civil’ and ‘military authority and who commands a following because of prowess as much as due to lineage. 29 Αιδώς(aidoos) disgrace 30 ‘Iliad Bk ’9 646-648 atimeiton metanastein ( ατιμέιτον μέταναστέίν) 31 Σωφροσύνη self control, decent behaviour to avoid shame 32 Μήτις also good counsel 33 Peter Walcot 'Continuity and tradition; the persistence of Greek values’. 'Greece and Rome' vol xliii no2. Oct.1996. 34 Iliad Bk 9, lines 312-313 35 Aristotle ‘Politics’ the arete of a good man. In Walcot‘s essay op.cit supra 36 Hence philosophia love of wisdom, learning.

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although both display, karteria38 fortitude, especially in combat and when in physical pain. Throughout the Iliad the heroes, particularly the Greek ones, show great grit and forbearance when wounded, more so than the Trojans. This is to emphasise their moral superiority tlemosyne, (Τλήμωσυνη ) manly endurance, as well as being used as a ‘pointer’ for greater grief to follow: the fate of Troy, for example, is anticipated by the wounding of its major heroes. Their inner pain39 is passionately given full voice by Homeric heroes, as when Achilles learns of Patroklos’ death, bystanders fear that he may take his own life40. A later commentator on Homer, Zoilos of Amphipolis has this to say about the display of grief by Achilles at the death of Patroklos. ’He should have known that everyone runs the same risks in war. This sort of excessive grieving is effeminate. Not even ‘a barbarian wet-nurse would behave like that.’-a triple insult!41 Achilles is not the only hero who displays his grief openly by moaning and groaning, covering his face and clothes with dust and tearing at his garments and his hair. Priam not only pulls out his hair at the sight of his son Hector in mortal danger42but later responds to his son’s death by wallowing in dung in an animal pen.(εν χορτοισι) en khortoisi).

When warriors are in a group, such as when the Trojan are collecting their slain from the battle field, they are told not to weep openly as a show of defiance toward the watching Achaeans43.At the funeral rites, the assembled men are composed while the women raise a lament ,γοως (goos) . At the laying-in-state or protheisis of Patroklos, Achilles tells the women ‘to weep for Patroklos for that is the privilege of the dead.44 Thetis and her sisters provide the lament for at the protheisis of Patroklos as a foreshadowing of the death of Achilles himself. In the additional ritual mourning that follows the lying-in-state (up to seventeen days it is stated in the Odyssey45the gender distinction is maintained as the women mourn more volubly than the men do. Tears are also a sign of rage and frustration with heroes. When he addresses the army,

37 Φρονεσις (phronesis)practical as well as moral wisdom. 38 καρτερια (karteria) fortitude, ability to endure discomfort. 39 Οδυνη (odyne) 40 Iliad Bk 18 lines 20-40. Bk 23 line 23-35. 41 Hans van Wees ‘A brief history of tears’ page 53 (F Gr H 71 F11 (ap. Schol.A.) and ‘Iliad’ Bk.18 lin22. 42 Iliad Bk 22 lines 33-34 and 77-78. and Bk 22 lines 77-81. 43 Iliad Bk. 7 lines 426-428 44 IliadBk.23 lines 8-9. 45 Odyssey Bk.24 lines 63-64.

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Agamemnon ‘weeps tears like a well of dark water’ as he announces that because of the will of the gods, the expedition to destroy Troy will have to be abandoned.46 Later, when he sees the might of the enemy’s encampment, he pulls his hair and groans.47 When Patroklos hears of a reversal on the battlefield he sighs and speaks in a doleful voice (ολοφυρεθαι) olophuresthai and slaps his thighs as well. He also weeps to vent his feelings of frustration regarding Achilles’s response to the ‘insult’ and the effect that it has on the fighting spirit of the army. It is Achilles who chides Patroklos for ‘weeping like a girl’48 but it is the gentlest of rebukes. To Homer’s audience tears of rage are acceptable, like those shed in anger by Diomedes when he loses his whip during the chariot race.49

Alexander Pope’s note on his translation of the Iliad (Book I lines 458) expresses the 18th Century response to ‘manly tears’

It is no Weakness in heroes to weep, but the very effect of Humanity and Proof of a generous temper. (i.e.Achilles) Tears are of Anger and Disdain of which a great and fiery temper is more susceptible than any other: and even in this case Homer has taken care to preserve the high character by making him retire to vent his tears out of sight.50

It is not until the character of Aeneas in Virgil that this inner pain, which the Roman poet calls dolor, is brought under control.

The heroes’ concept of dikaiosyne51, justice, is seen only in their own personal term and in this, they are like the gods. What they regard as just, is merely to help their friends and harm their enemies. For example, in an attempt to be just towards Achilles for taking Briseis from him, Agamemnon offers one of his own daughters as a wife for the young warrior, with the added bonus that Achilles could take his bride to his own father’s house, ‘the house of Peleus’. In this way he would not be treated as an

46 Iliad Bk.9 lines 14-16 47 Iliad Bk.10 line 114 and 397-8. 48 Iliad Bk.16 line 2-11. 49 Iliad Bk.23 lines 385-387. 50 Alexander Pope . Translation of the Iliad (1715) in World’s Classics Series, Oxford University Press. This work, published originally in two volumes, was enormously popular, earning for the author the sum of £5,000 .

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uxorilocal husband, a man who moves into his father-in-law’s house and is thus without honour, a position perfectly understood by ‘traditional’ audiences. Achilles, however, sees further offence in this offer as Agamemnon would place Achilles in the subordinate position of son-in-law.

Hesiod52 defined the Homeric hero of the Bronze Age thus:

heroes, men called demi gods who fought for the flocks of Oedipus and some, when [fate] brought them in ships over the great sea gulf to Troy, for fair-haired Helen’s sake.

The Greeks saw something splendid in filling their past with men of renown. To demonstrate his manhood, the hero had to excel, to win applause, the ethos was ‘Be always best and pre eminent beyond all others53’

The hero must be successful to win glory (kudos54), the applause of one’s peers or kleos, generally coupled with aphthiton55, glory everlasting) and honour (time) which was the foundation of an aristocrat’s code of behaviour. Achilles’s brief career consists of one successful slaying after another, culminating with the killing of Hector56.

Success means receiving precedence at banquets, having expensive possessions as trophies and accepting gifts of honour, such as weapons and armour. ‘The warriors consume the rich flocks and sweet wine because they stand amid the front ranks’. 57

Heroes are generous but have little pity. Invariably, heroes are compassionate towards the weak, especially if they belong to their own elite class.

The killing of an enemy that asks for quarter is merely an adjunct to the fury of valiant combat. ‘Nemo me impune lacessit’58 is the hero’s code, no one harms him in any way

51 Δικαοσΰνη the imposition of justice on another person. 52 Hesiod ‘Work and Days’ 156-165. Loeb Classics no 57, 2006. 53 Iliad Bk 6 line 208; Bk 11 line 784. 54 κύδος 55 Κλέος άφθιτον 56 Iliad Bks 20 and 23. 57 Iliad Bk 12 310 ff.

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and gets away unscathed. Achilles must avenge the insults to his dignity and Odysseus’s revenge upon his return to Ithaca on everyone who has wronged him is as implacable as it is bloody.

The Homeric hero never ceases to be a normal human being, albeit one on a very large scale with the occasional super-human effort. Birth and wealth are complemented by strength and physical beauty and above all by courage. The adulation of public opinion among men who shared the hardship of a hero made the individual ‘like a god’. 59 Men could aspire to emulate heroes

We can in greatness of mind or of body be like the Immortals Though we know not to what goal by day or in the night Fate has written that we shall run.60

This use of the heroic warrior as a rôle model helped early men to shake off primitive superstitions and taboos by showing that a man can achieve remarkable deeds by his own efforts and thus rise above his own nature. These stories were used as educational examples in antiquity and from the Renaissance onto more recent times in elite secular educational institutions. Audiences reading of classical heroes gained a feeling of freedom from the realities of ordinary life and the restrictions of religious education. ‘The epic themes carry us with them in their struggles and in their sufferings: the heroes are not as we are yet we follow them, and so, when they suffer or exult, so do we’.61 The Homeric hero loved battle and in his field of activity, he is narrowly focused on this most testing activity for a man. There are a few examples in the Iliad of peaceful pursuits and ethical justice, but the heroic pursuit of glory leaves little room for chivalrous behaviour or sporting spirit of fair play. The lack of properly emphasised vengeance for example would mean that honour was inadequately satisfied. When Patroklos kills Hector’s driver Cebriones, he gloats,62 just as Achilles gloats over the dying Hector ‘I have broken your strength on you, the dogs and vultures shall feed and

58 Motto of the Black Watch Regiment and carried by all Highland Regiments of Foot. 59 Iliad numerous examples passim; here book 24 lines629-630 ‘he seemed a deathless god’ 60 Pindar ‘Olympian Odes’ Loeb Classics .No.56, 1997. 61 Michael Grant ’Myths of the Greeks and Romans’ Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd London 1962 Page 45 62 Iliad Bk 16 lines 734-50.

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foully rip you’.63 Achilles drags Hector’s body, fastened by thongs through the ankles to a chariot, three times each day around Patroklos’ tomb. However, the poet of the Iliad knows that Achilles goes beyond the heroic norm with his human sacrifice of twelve young Trojans, ‘he had done an evil deed ’.64

The blood lust to avenge the shame of the Trojans’ attack on the Greek rampart and ships is equally almost beyond the heroic norm. The Greeks will even stoop to genocide ‘No, we are not going to leave a single one of them alive … and none to be left to think of them or shed a tear’.65

The concluding scene of the Iliad, when Priam finally is able to retrieve the body of his son, is all the more poignant because behind its quiet simplicity and dignity the audience hears the roar of battle and knows of the exultation over the carnage wrought by Achilles at the Scamander river. From degradation comes compassion, at this point for the tragic nature of Achilles. There is pathos in his struggle against other men and against moira,66 the fate that has set limits to his achievements. Each hero fulfils his destiny with his death, a bitter experience, as there is no comfort of consoling immortality. Heroism leads to misery and death and honour is gained only by slaying other heroes. There is pity in the words of the epic poet for the brevity of each hero’s life and for the waste causes by furious anger and pride. Life to a hero must be lived with passionate delight as there is little beyond the grave towards which each man is dragged groaning. When Odysseus meets Achilles’s shade in the Underworld, Achilles concern is for the prowess of his son Neoptolemus.( His name means Young Warrior) As for himself ‘I had rather be the slave of another man on earth, a dirt poor serf who struggles to stay alive than monarch of all the breathless dead’.67 Achilles is pleased when Odysseus tells him that Neoptolemus is indeed a ‘chip off the old block’.

63 Iliad Bk 22 lines 330-333 64 Iliad human sacrifice was unacceptable to Homeric Greeks as a barbaric custom. Similarly, the dragging of the body of Hector by means of thongs through the lower part of his leg demeans him to the level of a hunted and slain animal. 65 Iliad This is a much-discussed passage as it advocates genocide, not a practice of Homeric Greeks. 66 Μοιρα also the limit of each individual’s appointed time.

67‘Odyssey’ Book 11 lines 556-558.

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The audience is captivated by the splendour of the clash of arms but is acutely aware of the cost of it all, the pathos, the futility, and the sadness captured in the opening lines of the epic.

The rage…that cost the Achaeans countless losses, throwing to the House of Death so many valiant spirits, souls of great fighters, Their bodies made into carrion, feasts for dogs and birds.68

The gods give favoured treatment to a hero. The Greeks accepted Homer as their first ‘theologian’ as he devised their cosmology. One of the achievements of the epic tradition was the wielding of a heterogenous collection of deities into a ‘family’ of clearly delineated individuals. These gods, given human shape by Homer, take sides and even accompany the heroes into battle. For example, when Hector and Ajax are fighting, Ajax’s spear is smashed by Hector but ‘Ajax knew in his blameless heart, and shivered for knowing it, how this was the god’s [Zeus] work’ 69

The gods inspire the main action of the hero but they give him room to display his own vigorous capacity for action. Homer does not see any inconsistency between the way fate dictates and limits a hero’s life and the hero’s free will that allows him to choose his method of behaviour, according to his personal code of honour. When the gods do intervene, they throw into relief the contrast between human grandeur and imperfection. The gods cannot change the human nature of the hero, but they fortify his self-esteem and reconcile him to his greatest fear, that of death and what is more significant, complete annihilation without ‘everlasting glory’.

The hero retains his freedom of choice without sacrificing his dignity and independence. Achilles eventually acknowledges the supremacy of the gods by his act of the will to undo his righteous wrath aimed at Agamemnon including halt to his orgy of slaughter in revenge for the death of Patroklos 70 ‘Now I am making an end to my anger. It does not become me unrelentingly to rage on’.

68 Iliad Bk I lines 2-5 69 ‘Iliad ’Ajax fights Hector even though he knows that the gods also are against him 70 Iliad Bk19lines 67-68

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The hero, aristocrat though he may be and minion of the gods, nevertheless has two sanctions working against him. The first is hubris, (ύβρις) overwhelming pride, the forerunner of nemesis, (νέμεσις) divine retribution, to restore honour and the second is aidos, the personal shame that the loss of his good repute will bring in the eyes of his community. The audience is well aware of the tension between the individual impulse and the pressure of social conformity, as when Achilles almost draws his sword to kill Agamemnon after he has been so grossly offended by having his trophy taken away on little more than a petulant desire by Agamemnon to show Achilles who is boss.71

The thirty-seven or so main characters in the poem are startlingly real and ‘contemporary’ in their presentation, they are Bronze Age men and women: the world of the poem is the past but the people and trappings are of the writer’s ‘present’. Nestor’s cup with the two doves was actually found at an excavation at Mycenae. Troy VII fell in 1250 BCE at the hands of Achaeans, at the peak of Mycenaean power, whose fall led to a dark age described by Hesiod in Work and Days.

Whether the Iliad is historical, or indeed how much of it is factual, is outside the scope of this discussion. It suffices to note that this type of composition is adorned with the names of people the audience believed to be the ancestors of their chiefs and princes and thus of themselves. Possibly, there was another ‘Achilles’ predating Homer, a story based on folklore, but it is Homer who gives the tale a literary treatment and portrays not just Argive heroes, but Trojan ones as well. It is worth noting that in Homer there are very few differences in the depiction of Trojans and Greeks, who have similar values and even similar weapons and armour.

This study demonstrates that because of its focus on the hero as portrayed by the persona of Achilles, the Iliad does much to direct the thoughts of audiences towards a recognition and acknowledgement of human dignity. The hero of the epic may be often unscrupulous, violent tempered, irresolute and domineering, but he can also be noble, self-sacrificing and loyal to an exacting code of honour. Through the ages, Achilles and the epic heroes who have followed him have shaped men’s perceptions of their

71 Iliad Bk I lines 220-221.

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surroundings and an articulation of their experience and not just in situations of conflict and danger. This point is reinforced by comments made by Katherine Callen King72when she notes that,

Homer turned a celebration of martial valor into a critical exploration of heroic values and made godlike Achilles famous for his power to inflict pain in war into a multifaceted human being coming to grips with human mortality. Achilles, Callen King states aptly,

links the soldier with the hero in Western European culture. For centuries thereafter, whenever the concept of the martial hero surfaced, Achilles was sure to appear.73

Part a ii Proud-hearted Achilles In keeping with classical tradition, it is essential to provide the hero’s antecedents and the factual events of his life. The name Achilles also conveys the meaning of ‘without lips’ with the suggestion that this physical characteristic denotes determination and inflexibility.74 He is the son of King Peleus of the Myrmidones of Phthiotis in Southern Thessaly and of the Nereid, Thetis, thus being ‘semi divine’. Peleus, son of Aeacus went on the journey with the fabled Argonauts. Peleus’ heroic deeds are recounted in Ovid,75 how he had to win Thetis by wrestling with her while she changed into many terrifying and bewildering shapes such as wind, fire, water, tree, bird, tiger, lion, snake and a cuttlefish! The gods themselves attended the wedding feast and brought gifts, described by Catullus in poem 64.76 Thetis, we are told by Apollodorus,77 abandoned Peleus because he interfered with her efforts to try to make Achilles immortal, by

72 Katherine Callen King ‘Achilles, Paradigms of the War Hero from Homer to the Middle Ages.’ University of California Press, Berkley 1987. Page xv. 73 Ditto page 220. 74 ‘Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology ‘Volume I ed .William Smith, London John Murray 1849 entry on Achilles. 75 Ovid 'Metamorphoses’ 11 lines 221-265 76 This is a ‘mini’ epic on the marriage of the parents of Achilles. It is titled the ‘Epithalamion’ έπιθαλάμιον, literally’ outside the bedchamber’ a ritual of songs performed by young men and women at a wedding 77 Apollodorus 3; 13; 6. Loeb Classics Harvard University Press.

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burning away his mortality. In the Iliad, Peleus is aged, alone and afflicted but he is finally reunited with Thetis and made immortal.78

Peleus had the young Achilles tutored by the Centaur Chiron, who fed the boy on the marrowbones of bears and the entrails of lions and taught him the art of healing. Achilles’s other mentor was Phoenix who taught him eloquence and the arts of war. There is a deep attachment between the two and Phoenix, though of venerable age, accompanied Achilles to Troy where the ‘old horseman’ commands a battalion of Myrmidons.79

The seer Calchas warns Thetis, when Achilles was nine years old, that Troy would fall only by the hand of Achilles but that he would die because of his conquest. When Achilles is eventually told that he can live a long uneventful life or die young covered in glory, he chooses the latter.80

Thetis, as the protective mother that she is throughout the epic, hid her son in the Palace of Lycomedes, (Ruler of Wolves) King of Skyros. Later accounts by writers other than Homer provide details of Achilles’s youth spent at Skyros disguised as a girl, Phyrra and of being dipped in the River Styx by Thetis while she held him by the ankle, in order to make him invulnerable. While at Skyros, Achilles fathers a son Pyrrhus/Neoptolemus on one of the King’s daughters, Deidameia. Odysseus, who himself had been tricked into going to the war against Troy, uses cunning to expose the ‘maiden’. Pretending to be a peddler, he visits the women‘s quarters of the Palace with a basket of cloth and other objects of interest to young girls. At the bottom of the basket, Odysseus has hidden a weapon. When ‘Achilles’ approaches the basket, the call to arms is sounded on a trumpet and reacting to his instinct, Achilles gives a war cry and grabs the hidden sword, thus unmasking himself.

‘Swift footed’ Achilles81 thus goes to the war in command of fifty ships, each crammed with fifty Myrmidons of legendary repute in battle.82 Achilles is the darling of the

78 Iliad Bk24 lines 486-489. 79 Iliad Bk 11 line 832. 80 Iliad Bk 9 line 485; 438 ff.. 81 This epithet gave rise to the philosophical conundrum known as the ‘Achilles paradox’. It is attributed to Zeno in Aristotle’s ‘Physics’ IV 9 239b15. In a race, between Achilles and a tortoise, the quickest

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goddesses Hera and of Athena.83 The audience is soon presented with a list of the death and destruction disseminated by Achilles. He ravages the countryside around Troy destroying twelve cities on the coast and eleven in the interior; hence, he earns his epithet ‘destroyer of cities’. 84 At one of these sacked towns, Lyonessos, he captures Briseis. Thus, his supremacy is emphasised as he is constantly tagged as ‘the best of the Achaeans’. In the epic, he is likened to a god a total of seven times, to a lion five times and to fire fourteen times. Even King Priam, begging for the return of Hector’s corpse, recognises and acknowledges Achilles’s heroic stature, he ‘gazed upon Achilles, wondering at his size and beauty, for he seemed like the very image of a god’

Achilles in turn is aware of the heroic nobility of Priam’ and his brave appearance’ and tells him ‘you have a heart of iron’85. This recognition by one hero of another allows pity to replace blind fury in Achilles’s heart and thus halt the war for twelve days to enable Hector to be given the funeral rites befitting a hero.

In keeping with the code regarding the spoils of war, Priam offers and Achilles accepts a ransom for Hector’s corpse.86

In the Aeneid, when Troy is in its final agony at the hands of the Greeks, Priam inveighs against Neoptolemus who is equally terrifying in his ferocity as his father. Neoptolemus has just slaughtered one of Priam’s sons in front of both Priam and his wife Hecuba. Priam speaks of Achilles’s honour and compassion and shames Neoptolemus by saying he is unworthy of his father. In reply, Neoptolemus grabs Priam by the hair and plunges his sword up to the hilt into the old man’s chest saying, “You yourself can report to Peleides my father my degenerate behaviour87’. There is an echo here of Achilles’s own implacable blood lust as when he kills the supplicant Lycaon88.

runner can never overtake the slowest since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursuit started, so the slower runner must always hold a lead.’ 82 Iliad Bk 9 line 410. Myrmidones, (from myrmeix μύρμέιξ an ant) were changed from ants into warrior by Zeus to provide Peleus with an escort Also Iliad Bk 2line 681, fifty ships; Bk 16 line 168. 83 Iliad Bk I 195; 208. 84 Iliad Bk 9line 328 85 Iliad Bk 24 lines 628-634 86 Iliad Bk 24 lines 568-570. 87 ‘Aeneid’ Book 2 lines 540-550. See also Iliad Bk 20 line 206 and Iliad Bk 18 line 316 as well as ‘Aeneid’ Bk 2 line 263. He is referred to as Peleides, son of Peleus. 88 Iliad Bk 21 lines 34-135 a speech full of hatred and resentment.

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The character of the hero Achilles is depicted in detail in the five main ‘piers’ of the narrative of the epic, the quarrel with Agamemnon; the refusal of the gifts and rejection of the embassy; the death of Patroklos and finally the return of Hector’s corpse to King Priam. The plot revolves around these events. Chryseis, daughter of the priest of Apollo an enemy of the Greeks is seized in a raid and when Agamemnon refuses to yield up his ‘trophy’, a plague sweeps the Greek camp. This stops when Chryseis is given back, and to make up for this loss, Agamemnon takes Achilles’s prize, Briseis. Shamed, Achilles withdraws to his tent and refuses to fight for Agamemnon any longer. Hector leads the Trojans with great success against the Greeks, dispirited by the absence of their champion, and even burns some of their ships. Patroklos, wearing the borrowed armour of Achilles turns the tide but is killed by Hector under the walls of Troy and the armour taken as spoils. After funeral games in honour of Patroklos, Achilles kills Hector in revenge and eventually returns the body to Priam. The epic closes with an uneasy truce between the combatants for the funeral rites of Hector.

Achilles is the most perfect practitioner of the Homeric code. He has a lust for fame, he is sensitive to insults, he has prowess in battle. In combat in his chariot, ‘he drove his flying stallions out in the front ranks’89. He has filial piety, obeying his father’s exhortation ‘always to be the best and surpass others’. He recognises the significance of his aristeia as it puts him in mind of his own father, the heroic Peleus and of his own meletai thanaton awareness of death. He is respectful towards older heroes as shown by the touching gentility with which he deals with Nestor and especially the respect he eventually shows to Priam. The gods favour him but he also obeys them, as when Athena persuades him to surrender Briseis to Agamemnon, whereas Achilles’s initial impulse is to kill the paramount chief of the Achaeans.

Achilles carries the savage ethical code of the Homeric hero to its conclusion. Societies such as the Greeks believed that gods interacted with human beings in such an intimate way as to make moral power personal, the sacred and the mundane interchangeable. In these societies, the hero is raised to a position of distinction as an expression of cultural values. In particular, they apply to the ethics of gifts of honour, and comradeship. Cedric

89 Iliad Bk 19 line 424

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Whitman discusses how Achilles is portrayed as an individual against his community, he is a ‘law unto himself’ and by his actions, he proves his case.

Achilles activated the absolute in the terms in which he had conceived it for himself … The absolute is the ability and the right of the heroic individual to perceive – or better to conceive – a law for himself and then to prove his case by action90.

Initially, both men and gods approve the anger of Achilles at the unprovoked insult by Agamemnon, until Achilles carries this passion beyond the normal limits. First, he refuses the massive compensation offered by Agamemnon’s ambassadors91 and secondly, when he returns to the battlefield for the very personal reason of avenging the death of Patroklos, he goes beyond the accepted norms of retribution in blood, by maltreating Hector’s corpse92 and by the human sacrifice of twelve young Trojans on the funeral pyre of Patroklos93. ‘A dozen brave sons of the proud Trojans he hacked to pieces with his bronze.’ He throws these bodies on the pyre along with those of two of Patroklos’ hunting dogs and four stallions.

Achilles, however, also has insight and self-knowledge. He knows that he will die young and in his great speech addressed to Agamemnon’s ambassadors to his tent, he calls the entire code that he lives by into question, expressing his disillusionment with the ethics of his community by saying that he would rather live quietly at home than fight in the Trojan war94. Throughout the epic, Achilles shows no interest in enriching his estates with booty. His preoccupation with gifts and trophies is not for their ‘monetary value’ but as symbols of the ethics of reciprocity in his society, namely, the gift of giving for honour (geras) and as a public acknowledgment of his superiority in the comradeship of arms (time and kudos). It is for this reason, the public display of gifts of honour among his peers, that Achilles sees himself as justified in rejecting the gifts borne by the embassy of heroes on behalf of Agamemnon. He sees them as merely a ‘price’ to be paid for his prowess.

90 Cedric H. Whitman ‘Homer and the Homeric tradition’ Cambridge Massachusetts 1958 page 273. 91 Iliad Bk 9 lines 145-188 92 Iliad Bk 22 lines 395-404 ; Bk 24 lines 14-22 93 Iliad Bk 23 lines 171-176. 94 Iliad Bk 9 lines 308-429, the great speech of Achilles on a warrior’s way of life.

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The premise is that Agamemnon’s seizure of Briseis is so unjustified and so outside the accepted ethics of reciprocity that Agamemnon cannot be treated as a giver of compensatory gifts. The offence he causes is all the greater because of Achilles’s own past willingness to participate in reciprocal comradeship with Agamemnon. Also, the very large munificence of these compensatory gifts, in Achilles’s view, constitute an attempt by Agamemnon to reassert his authority over Achilles by gaining the added status that comes from gift giving on such a scale.

Achilles’s eloquence in his great speech is full of bitterness and irony and he uses vocabulary which transcends the formulae of other Homeric heroes who also on occasion exhibit the characteristic of persuasive eloquence. It is useful to note some of the similes Achilles uses and to observe the fluctuations in his speech from violence to tenderness95.

After addressing Odysseus, Ajax and Phoenix as ‘my dearest friends, even in my anger’, Achilles observes the rules of hospitality by providing a sumptuous banquet for his guests and only ‘when they had put aside the desire for food and wine’ does Odysseus begin his pleading. He begins with the plea that Achilles put away his ‘heart-devouring anger’, and ends with the catalogue of gifts and with the assurance that Briseis would be returned, along with Agamemnon’s oath, that ‘he never mounted her bed’.

Achilles describes the envoys clustering around him as ‘coaxing like a murmuring clutch of doves’. He warns Odysseus ‘the great tactician’, that he hates ‘that man like the very Gates of Hades who says one thing but hides another in his heart’. There will be no dissembling on his part, he repeats the phrase ‘I will say it straight out’ three times in his preamble.

While he, Achilles, was camping out many a night in full armour, Agamemnon was ‘skulking behind the lines, safe in his fast ships’. From the booty captured by Achilles, he gave prizes of honour to other captains, while he got ‘starvation’s pittance’, comparing himself in a vivid simile to a ‘mother bird hurrying morsels back to her wingless young

95 Iliad Bk 9 lines 378-510 passim; see also Bks 6, 16 and 18 passim for examples of Achilles’s stirring eloquence.

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ones and keeping only scraps for herself’. He bitterly describes Agamemnon as ‘shameless, inveterate … armoured in shamelessness’. Zeus has ‘ripped away his brains’.

‘His gifts! I loathe his gifts, I would not give you a splinter for that man’. Achilles would not fight again for such a man ‘not if his gifts outnumbered all the grains of sand and all the dust in the earth’ and he stresses that ‘No wealth is worth my life’. He concludes his awesome speech by announcing that he will return home with his followers, darkly emphasising that it will be with booty, but not with his prize of honour. He also recollects the terrible prophecy of his own fate ‘… if I lay siege to Troy, my journey home will not take place, but my glory will never die’.

It is significant that the words Odysseus uses when urging Achilles to accept the gifts and to ‘curb’ his ‘overweening’ anger are as extreme as the emotions expressed by Achilles. As Agamemnon offers no apology, merely ‘gifts to match his insults’, Achilles refuses to rein in his fury96.

Achilles is anxious throughout this speech, as the very centre of his world of an aristocratic hero has been ripped away when his geras is taken from him. What is the point of enduring so much so bravely if ‘The same honour rewards both the coward and the brave’. They both go down to the House of Hades. Achilles’s rejection of the gifts implies that he does so only under these circumstances imposed by Agamemnon, and it is not a rejection of the concept of compensatory gifts. It is significant that after he has put aside his heart devouring anger, Achilles seeks validation from the majority of his peers at the funeral games instead of seeking it from the overbearing will of one man albeit a King. One can hear the irony in Achilles’s voice when, at the spear throwing event, he calls off the contest and awards first prize to Agamemnon saying ‘we know how far you excel us all … no one can match your strength at throwing spears. You are the best by far. Take first prize and return to your hollow ship’97. Twice before Achilles has stated that Agamemnon never earned the honours he received.98

96 Iliad Bk 9 line 264, σύ δε μεγαλήτορα θυμον ίσχειν έν στήθεσσι ‘if you will curb your heroic/overweening pride in your breast.’ 97 Iliad Bk 23 lines 890-892 98 Iliad Bk 1 lines 166ff and Bk9 lines 323-333.

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The eloquence and originality of Achilles’s speech reinforces the perception that he is an exceptional hero, in the extent of his demands, the intensity with which he pursues them, the magnitude of his self-respect. Here he questions the heroic code and what happens when a hero goes as far as he has gone. The Homeric hero is responsible for his own actions, regardless of whether or not a god is involved in them. Often these decisions are not based on rational consideration and certainly not on moral assumptions. Furor is central to the hero’s nature. In Homer, passion and action flower into self-knowledge. Plato is critical of this as he saw passion as an impediment to gaining a rational perception that had moral worth. For the Homeric hero, action is a reflex in response to passion. The word ( μήνις) metis has the concept of furious resentment, just as the English word ‘wrath’99 contains divine connotations, of a passion beyond what is normal in human beings100.

The aggression of Achilles’s outpouring is tempered by the remarks about the love he has for Briseis, ‘I loved that woman though I have won her as a trophy with my spear’101. He shows his humanity when he asks rhetorically if it is only the Atridae who love their wives. Yet he makes extraordinary decisions as befit his heroic status. His withdrawal from combat, his rejection of the embassy, his allowing Patroklos to don his armour and fight in his place, his extreme revenge on Hector, even threatening cannibalism (‘I shall eat your liver raw’) which continues even after Hector’s death. Any perceived loss to him, Achilles resolves to make good at any cost. By an act of his own will, Achilles redirects his fury from Agamemnon to Hector, the slayer of Patroklos. ‘Now I am making an end to my anger. It does not become me unrelentingly to rage on’102. An orgy of blood letting follows and Achilles shows both his total lack of mercy and his cruelty at the Scamander River slaughter and his killing of the supplicant Lycaon who is told ‘make your bed with the fishes’103.

The ferocious qualities of Achilles are contrasted with those of the Trojan hero Hector. Unlike Achilles, who acknowledges the madness of going to Troy ‘on this insane

99 Oxford Concise English Dictionary Volume II 1979, for the etymology of ‘wrath’. 100 Iliad Bk 9 line 340 101 Iliad Bk 9 lines 365. 102 Iliad Bk 21 lines 99-113 103 Iliad Bk 20 lines 559-567.

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expedition’104, Hector, whose name implies ‘protector’, is fighting for the safety of his family and for his homeland. His farewell to his wife Andromache and his young son Astyanax (which ironically means Lord of the City) is one of the most poignant passages in the entire epic and the audience feels the weight of the irony of Hector’s prayer for his son’s well being, knowing it to be in vain.

Both heroes accept death without fear but not without bitterness. Both have experienced the horrible death of warriors and heard the laments for the dead and each knows that while killing realises the qualities of the hero it also destroys the very people who embody these qualities. The death and injury of warriors is an important part of the narratology of epic composition, as injury to Trojan heroes, as noted earlier, is used to foretell the fall of Troy itself. In the Iliad, violence is subservient to the narrative of the epic that has a central moral core. It is the quality of retelling this fundamental tale in a way that speaks to each new audience that makes this epic enduring in its appeal.

Achilles learns the limits of honour and of excellence in combat. It is not enough to attack ‘like a driving wind’ if all that this produces is ‘the bespattering of his unconquerable hands with gore’105.

At the end of the epic Homer shows the hero in a fully mature form when Achilles receives King Priam, begging for the release of Hector’s body, in his camp. Here, passion and ego give way to generosity and resignation in one of the great expressions of the human condition106.

We men are wretched beings: the gods have woven sorrow into the very pattern of our lives-the gods live free of sorrow.

Achilles is truly heroic when he acknowledges that a noble enemy deserves compassion. He is concerned as to what Priam’s reaction will be when he first sees the mangled body of Hector; should Priam loses control, Achilles is aware that he too will lose control and retaliate violently. Thus, he provides some fine linen shirts as wrapping for the body and

104 Iliad Bk 24 lines 3-6. 105 Iliad Bk 24 lines 522-540. 106 Iliad Bk 24 lines 615-616

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then lifts Hector’s corpse into Priam’s cart.107 In doing so, he gains maturity and an understanding of how he has lived his life and the price that has to be paid for honour and glory, ‘the hardships he had suffered, the wars of men, hard crossings of big waters’108.

This scene is starkly real: the hero needs all the self-reliance he can muster to face proudly and courageously whatever fate may bring. Achilles knows that his death will follow closely upon that of Hector. It involves Apollo, the Archer King, either directly or disguised as Paris and it is described in the works of Horace and Virgil109. Paris used the ‘coward’s weapon’, the bow and shoots Achilles, from a distance, in the vulnerable ankle. In an example of poetic justice’, Paris in turn is killed by the greatest of Greek archers, Philoctetes.

The death of Achilles does not occur in the Iliad, it is merely alluded to, that he will die at the battle for the Scaean Gate110.

The Odyssey reports Achilles’s death and described how his ashes were joined to those of Patroklos and buried in a golden urn on the shores of the Hellespont. Alexander, standing at the ‘grave’ of Achilles at Cape Sigeum was reported as saying, ‘Oh happy youth, to have found Homer as a panegyrist of your glory’111.

In the Lower World, Achilles became a judge of men’s spirits but Odysseus records his unhappiness in its gloomy fields of asphodel. He still values the heroic code and he is cheered by Odysseus’s accounts of the successful exploits of his warlike son, Neoptolemos.

Pausanias112 records that in the ancient gymnasium of Olympia stood a cenotaph for Achilles at which certain ceremonies were performed before the Games.

107 Iliad Bk 24 lines 582-587. 108 Iliad Bk 22; line 358. Also Bk 21, line 278. 109 Iliad Bk 22 lines 359-360 ; Horace ‘Carmina’ Bk 6 line 3; Virgil ‘Aeneid’ Bk 6 line 57 110 Odyssey Bk 24 line 36. 111 Recorded in Cicero ‘Pro Archia’ Chapter 24 ‘O fortunate, adulescens, qui tuae virtutis Homerum praeconem inveneris’. 112 Pausanias Chapter 6; Section 23. See also Plutarch, Philostratus, Apollonius of Rhodes and Statius for a ‘complete’ picture of the death of Achilles and of his life prior to the events of the Iliad and even post!

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Epic tradition had a strong hold during the age of city-states ruled by, at times temporary, kings. They were followed by the first experiments with more democratic governments in major cities such as Athens and Thebes in the 5th Century BCE. Aristocracies of birth, by claiming descent from great past warrior heroes, struggled for supremacy over κλεα άνδρον, ( klea andron) the glorious deeds of men who gained both honour and booty. Nestor goes cattle raiding113 and one of the greatest exploits for Achaean heroes was to take an enemy fortification by storm114. Warfare involves the clashes of large bodies of men yet Homer focuses on particular heroes and their single combat. The common soldier is almost invisible but he does make a cameo appearance from time to time.

tight as a mason packs a good stone wall…. crammed so close the crested helmets, the war shields jutting buckler to buckler, helmet to helmet, man to man massed tight. 115.

Part b The heroic code and combat. Aristocratic individuals gained honour by slaying a worthy opponent. The duels are generally of brief duration; death is violent pain; the hurt is real but short-lived as a hero groans; his unwilling spirit flies to the underworld, but he does not die in agony. There are no ‘walking wounded’ nor permanently maimed heroes. After the battle, the bodies are recovered and burned with honour and dignity. Violent death is described in gruesome detail, but not the corpses. These conventions create for the audience an artificial yet convincingly real world in which combat is straightforward, clear-cut and noble. For the hero, the most important action is to meet his foe willingly and with courage and, if it is fated or inevitable, to go to a heroic death. In the Iliad, except for a few pronouncements by the old campaigner Nestor, there is virtually no discussion of tactics. It is from the Odyssey, for example, that audiences learn of the stratagem of the wooden horse, when Menelaus tells Telemachus who is searching for his father, of how Odysseus conceived and executed this bold plan116.

113 Iliad Bk 11 line 670 ff 114 Iliad Bk 12 line 98 ff 115 Iliad Bk 16 lines 201-203 116 Odyssey Bk 4 lines 270-272 and passim ff

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The objective for the hero is to kill his opponent, to gain the spoils and the glory: adherence to the obligations and duties of the heroic code is up to the individual. At the heart of this honour system is time, the honour accorded to the hero by his peers and this respect is demonstrated through the ritual presentation of treasure, gifts, women and a prominent place at a celebratory feast.

While eloquence, loyalty to one’s comrades, observance of the rules of hospitality, piety to the gods are all heroic qualities, they are secondary in the Homeric hero to his prowess as a leader and fighter in war. The speeches Achilles makes in the epic express the hero’s outlook on life that permeates Western epic and its successors through the ages; this outlook is encapsulated in the following statements; ‘Always excel and be superior to other men’;117‘One omen is best to fight for one’s native land’118 and ‘I feel a terrible shame if like a base man I hang back and skulk away from war’119.

It is, however, the Trojan Sarpedon’s speech to Glaucus that encapsulates the heroic code120. He asks, rhetorically, why people hold ‘us warriors’ in high honour and with pride of place offer choice meats and brimming cups and ‘all our people look on us like gods?’ Why do we have estates on the riverbank rich in vineyards and wheat fields? So that we can do our duty, to ‘fling ourselves into the blaze of war’. The men who eat fat cuts of lamb ‘owe it all to their own fighting strength’. So we go into the attack either to ‘give our enemy glory or to win it for ourselves’. And so he and Glaucus charge the rampart of the Achaeans. Sarpedon, son of Zeus, is killed by Patroklos in honourable combat bellowing and raging to be avenged.’ The Father of the Gods weeps tears of blood that drenched the earth at the death of this hero121. In typical heroic fashion, the victor is brutal in his triumph and Patroklos plants his foot on Sarpedon’s chest and ‘wrenched the spear from the wound so that the midriff came out with it and he dragged both that man’s life and the spear point out together’122.

For the hero, there is always a conflict between striving for individual excellence and personal glory and collaborating with his companions in order to achieve a common

117 Iliad Bk 6 line 208 118 ‘lliad’ Bk 12 line 243 119 Iliad Bk 6 line 41-43 120 Iliad Bk 12 lines 310-328 121 Iliad Bk 16 lines 460 and 501-503

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end. This conflict between personal honour and social responsibility remained a key issue in Greek society. It is for example, explored by Sophocles, in his play ‘Ajax’ that deals with the dispute between Ajax and Odysseus over the armour of Achilles.

The heroic code had different components and it is not possible to agree completely with the statement by Sir Moses Finley that ‘the heroic code was complete and unambiguous so much so that neither the poet nor his characters ever had occasion to debate it’123. On the contrary, there are some animated debates, such as between Patroklos and Achilles over conflicting loyalties. Nestor, Odysseus and Diomedes argue with Agamemnon and rebuke him for his misguided ideas, when, ‘with tears streaming like a dark well in a desolate rock’, he urges that they cut and run as they will never take Troy with its broad streets. Nestor reminds Agamemnon that he acted dishonourably towards Achilles ‘disgracing a great man that the gods themselves esteem by taking away his gift of honour’.

The Book that described the return to battle by Achilles, Book 19, contains an argument between Achilles and Odysseus about whether the army should have a meal before going into an action that promises to be no quick skirmish. It is not just a discussion of practicalities, but a dispute between the passion and rage of a hero and the pragmatism of a seasoned campaigner like Odysseus. ‘Without food, though a man’s courage may blaze for combat, his limbs will turn to lead before he knows it’ says Odysseus, the experienced campaigner. Achilles, roaring for combat and maddened by grief for the dead Patroklos replies

You talk of food? I have no taste for food, what I really crave is slaughter and blood and the choking groans of men.124

Odysseus prevails as all the other captains concur that while Achilles is stronger than anyone is, Odysseus surpasses him in ‘seasoned judgement’.

122 Iliad Bk 19 lines 387-394 123 Sir Moses Finley ‘The World of Odysseus’s Folio Society London 2000 Page 23. 124 Iliad Bk 19 lines 215-217. Athena sustains Achilles with ambrosia and nectar, the food of the gods.

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The values of the heroic code and the personal cost of adhering to it were questioned by Achilles himself when he speaks with Agamemnon’s envoys. Ultimately, though, loss of face is what a hero fears most, as when Achilles repudiates Agamemnon in the opening scenes of the epic,

I would be called a coward and a good-for-nothing if I am to yield to you and whatever you say125.

It has been only due to the intervention of Athena and Hera that Achilles ‘though his heart breaks with fury stays his powerful hand on the silver hilt and slid the huge blade back in its sheath.’ Instead, he addresses the Marshall of the Achaeans as ‘staggering drunk, with your dog’s eyes and your fawn’s heart’126. In a result oriented culture only success counts.

In the all or nothing world of the Homeric hero, the weapons he used were more than just tools of his trade, they contributed to the quality and magnitude of his honour and their magnificence, especially of the panoply, was a public demonstration of the wearer’s worth. In the Iliad, the ash-shafted spear is the key weapon of choice for heroes. They also used throwing spears, stabbing spears and other edged weapons such as swords and daggers127. When Agamemnon is arming himself ‘he took up a pair of stout spears tipped with bronze’. This is later elaborated to confirm that these ‘matched spears suited his grip’. Achilles has a great ash spear that only he can handle. It had belonged to his father Peleus and was given to him by Chiron the centaur ‘to be the death of heroes’128. King Priam’s epithet is eummelies, ( έϋμμελίης) he of the good ash spear. The end of Priam129, described by Virgil, shows the pathos of the old hero, wearing the armour of his youth that no longer fits and throwing an ineffectual spear at Neoptolemus that he parries with arrogant ease.

Calculations vary, but it is generally agreed that some 318 men are killed in the Iliad and that the most vicious way is with a spear. One ‘lodged in a man’s heart and still

125 Iliad Bk 1 lines 293-294 126 Iliad Bk 1 lines 230-233 127 The Achaean warrior carried a short iron sword (xiphos) which was used to cut and slash as well as for stabbing due to its superior rigidity to bronze weapons. Heroes such as Odysseus used a long sword. 128 Iliad Book 11. Note the use of the dual form to indicate ‘a matched pair’ of spears

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vibrated as the man’s soul goes groaning to Hades’130. In one engagement, throwing spears fly over Achilles ‘like flies in a flock of sheep over-brimming with milk pails’. Brains come oozing out of a man’s eye sockets, when Idomeneus spears him through the mouth131. A dead hero’s head slumps ‘as on a stalk a poppy falls, weighed down by a spring shower’. Another is gaffed out of his chariot and ‘flipped onto the ground like a dead fish dragged by a glittering bronze hook’132.

The natural imagery of everyday familiar things used in these gruesome descriptions of death in battle lends a documentary quality to the epic and the verisimilitude of the detail is what helps to create an illusion of reality. The set piece battle scenes are depicted in a formulaic manner and serve as an overture to the combat of duelling heroes. The Argive army mounting an attack ‘roars like surf driven on shore by the south wind’. The warriors are numerous

like the multitudinous nations of swarming insects who dive here and there about the stalls of a flock of sheep in the season of spring when milk splashes in the milk pails. In such numbers stood the longhaired Achaeans, up along the plain against the Trojans, hearts burning to break them.

The foot soldiers are packed tight like stones in a wall, helmet against helmet, man against man, locking shields in a manoeuvre called synaspismos133. These long heavy shields worn on the left fore arm were prevented from chafing the warriors’ shins by bronze greaves called eukneimides134. The phalanxes of men move slowly forward in a mass, then spread out to engage first by throwing ‘missiles’ and then with edged weapons. As the clash was physically demanding, concentrated effort could not be maintained for more than about twenty minutes at a time. Signal calls were made to withdraw one concentration of fighters and as they fell back others moved forward in their place. All the while this fluid action was taking place, the champions of each army, in their war chariots, sought out worthy individual opponents and engaged them on foot.

129 ‘Aeneid’ Bk 2 line 542 ff 130 Iliad Bk 13 lines 441-444. 131 Iliad Bk 16 lines 345-352. 132 Iliad Bk 16 lines 405-407. 133 ‘Iliad Bk 13 line 152 ff συνασπιμος (synaspimos) keeping shields close together 134 ‘Well-greaved’ is an often-used epithet for the Greek foot soldiers.

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When they tired, they fell back for protection among their own elite troops, the promachoi,135 those who fight in the front rank.

In Homeric combat, these heroes were armed more lightly than the infantryman (hoplite, όπλιτες) was and were driven in their chariot by a most trusted body servant. The charioteer’s task was to steer his hero way from the flying missiles and the mass killing and deliver him to where he could fight on foot with another hero of high rank. In the heroic world, these charioteers were a status symbol of leadership. They demonstrated the high prestige of the rider by the quality of the chariot itself but most notably by the splendour and performance of the four matched horses that drew it. The charioteer hippeis (ίππευς) or heniochos (ήνιοχος) of Achilles is named Automedon136: he became a byword for a legendary driver of horses. He is ‘always the finest in battle, with steady nerves awaiting the attack’. The horses of Achilles are unique and the equal to their heroic master; one of the immortal ones even speaks to predict Achilles’s death. One of the four however, Pedasus, the pure bread Bold Dancer, is exceptional as ‘though he was only an ordinary horse’ he still kept pace with the immortal matched steeds. The account of his death is very movingly told.

The hero’s defensive armour was made of bronze, indeed the most common epithet for the Achaeans is chalkochitones (χαλκοχιτωνης) bronze shirts. The breastplate, thorax, (θωραξ) was highly ornate ‘worked by smiths’ polydaidalos (πολυδαιδαλος). The helmet triphaleia (τριφαλεια) was also of bronze resting on a leather skullcap to cushion the head. This cap was referred to as ‘dog skin’ and this term is used in the Homeric context as a generic word for protective headgear. The helmet was intended not only to protect the wearer but more importantly to identify him to friend and foe alike in the confusion of combat, hence the addition of horsehair plumes and ornamental ‘horns’137.

The chariots were not used as ‘cavalry’ for several reasons. First, the horses were bred for speed. As they were not heavy, they were not trained to run foot soldiers down as later cavalry steed were, such as the ones which Malory would have ridden in combat.

135 From the verb προμαχομαι (promachomai) to fight in the front rank (like a champion). 136 Cicero uses the name sarcastically when referring to a man making a journey at breakneck speed in a chariot in one of his prosecutions the ‘Pro Roscio Amerino’. 137 Iliad 16 line 140 ‘The well forged helmet, the horse hair crest on top bristling terror’. See also Hans van Wees ‘The Homeric Way of War; the Iliad and the hoplite phalanx’ in ‘Greece and Rome’

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Secondly, they were expensive to obtain, train and maintain and were used with great care in battle. Chariots had missiles on board but these were used to defend the rider and not for going on the offensive. Nestor, the old horse soldier, is very specific with ‘the strict commands’ he issues to the hippeis ‘Rein your teams back and never panic, don’t fight alone exposed in front, don’t be foolhardy but give no ground’. He regrets that old age dogs his steps but he will still ride out with the troop of young mounted warriors ’to give them manoeuvres, discipline and commands that is the right and pride of old men’. He concludes his advice by reminding the young men to do ‘their work with their spears’.138

In another example of natural imagery, Achilles’s followers, the Myrmidons, are shown to be,

hungry as wolves that tear and devour raw flesh with hearts filled with battle frenzy that never dies, ripping apart on a cliff top some big antlered stag, they gorge on their kill until their jaws drip red with blood. Then they trot down in a tight pack to a dark pool of water, they lap the spring with their sharp tongues, belching bloody meat, but their fury is never shaken.139 It is these men who ‘outfight all others with their spears’.

The natural imagery used to provide realism to the scenes of war is combined with peaceful scenes of rural agricultural pursuits in the decoration of the shield of Achilles.140 This has a direct parallel in Virgil’s description of the shield of Aeneas.141

Philip Bobbit 142argues that in presenting the gilded shield with scenes of both the pursuits of peace and the horrors of war, Homer, ‘like Apollo at Delphi who neither says nor conceals, merely indicates’ is suggesting that peace is the desirable state for men and that war is to be avoided as it results in destruction and in the death of heroes. Bobbit explains that this is contrary to the sentiments of the Greek warrior elite

Vol xli No. 1 April 1994. 138 Iliad Bk 4 lines 301-320 139 Iliad Bk 16 lines 158-163 140 The Shield of Achilles, Iliad Book 18, passim 141 Shield of Aeneas in ‘Aeneid’ Bk 8 is discussed in the section (infra) dealing with Aeneas, which follows as Chapter IV

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expressed by Heraklitus in 500 BCE in what is called Fragment 53, that ‘war is the father of all; the king of all,’ war is the essence of history, strife is universal.143 Heraklitus conceived the universe as a ceaseless conflict of opposites regulated by an unchanging law. It is essential to fight for this regulatory law to prevail, as this will lead to true peace.

Achilles’s gilded shield is of heroic dimensions and shows scenes of a city at peace and of another under siege. The ‘panels’ of the former depict feasts while those of the latter depict death. In the peaceful city, wise judges settle the quarrel; in the latter, there is divided counsel on how to apportion wealth.

Aristotle,144 as mentioned earlier, compares epic poetry to drama as both are didactic for their audiences: both represent individuals in action and through these actions and the choices each makes, their character is revealed. ‘Action and leisure, war and peace and we may further distinguish acts which are merely necessary from acts which are good in themselves’. War is or should be, a means to achieve a desirable end to conflict, namely a ‘good peace’. Achilles serves as a model for the tragic hero of Sophocles due to his possession of a stubborn, passionate image of ‘self’.

The imbalance of the scenes, with war as the lesser one, provides a frame that gives the rage of Achilles and the death of Hector a true perspective. Achilles, just before his death becomes an ordinary human being. There is no consolation at the death of Hector, at the waste of such a heroic figure, a feeling compounded by the fate awaiting his infant son Astyanax of being hurled to his death from the ramparts of conquered Troy.

The device of the shield of Achilles is used by W H Auden145 to depict the banal horror of modern warfare as well. In the poem, this shield, to the dismay of Thetis, does not even depict scenes of peace, only of bloodshed and violence. Thetis gazes on the shield. ‘She looked … for vines and olive trees … well-governed cities and ships upon untamed seas,’ but all she finds is ‘sky like lead’ and congregated on a bare plain

142 Philip Bobbit ‘The Shield of Achilles’s Allen Lane The Penguin Press 2002 (reviewed in ‘The Times Literary Supplement’ 21st June 2002 by I.Gotte.) 143 Quoted in Bobbitt op cit page 57 ‘polemos pantoon men pateer esti pantoon de basileus’ 144 Aristotle ‘Poetics’ Bk viii 1330a para 12. Loeb Classics no. 199 (1995) 145 W H Auden ‘The Shield of Achilles’s Random House 1955 NY

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An unintelligible multitude A million eyes, a million boots in line, without expression, waiting for a sign,

Modern war has no heroes, only a dehumanised military machine. Thetis looks in vain in Auden’s poem for ‘ritual pieties, white flower-garlanded heifers, libations and sacrifice’, there are no athletes at their games, nor men and women in a dance, only wanton acts of mindless violence

Thetis of the shining breasts Cried out in dismay At what the god [Hephaestos] had wrought To please her son, the strong Iron-hearted man-slaying Achilles who would not live long but whose legacy would endure 146

The hero carried this shield on his left arm, which was swathed in a bandage to prevent chafing. The shield was circular and described in Euclidian terminology as being ‘equal in every direction’ from its reinforced ‘boss’ in the centre. 147

The mitra (μιτρα)148 a girdle was worn as protection for the belly by the hero. That one worn by Menelaus is described as being ‘highly decorated’ and ‘worked by smiths’. The shins were protects by greaves tied with leather straps. As it was essential for honour to be properly won in combat, the hero was driven to the front line in his chariot. He then dismounted and fought on foot with edged weapons. Heroes were skilled with the bow, as is shown most convincingly when Odysseus slays the suitors in his Hall after stringing the great bow which only he has the strength to do. However, the bow was not used in combat as it was regarded as cowardly to kill an enemy from a distance. In the

146 See also the Shield of Aeneas in ‘The Aeneid’ Bk 8 which depicts scenes from Roman history and Roman triumphs, as part of Achilles’s ‘legacy’ 147 See appendix for terminology/glossary on Homeric weapons. [Iliad Bk 9, 10] 148 Μιτρα is both a girdle and a headdress, hence the English word ‘mitre’.

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Iliad Odysseus is condemned for wanting to use poison pharmacon ( φαρμακον) on his iron arrows. Diomedes insults Paris by taunting him as

Archer, vile man, lovely in your locks, eyeing off young girls. If you were to test me man to man in armour, then your bow and your close-showered arrows would not help you in the least 149

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Trojans’ weaponry is the prominence of the bow. In addition to Paris, Pandaros is a noted archer, his bow is of horn and his arrows have iron tips, which would make them ‘armour piercing’. Archery was despised by the Greek warrior elite, although it was accepted as a skill suitable for men of lesser status. Two of the most conspicuous archers in the Iliad are Greek, Teucer and Meriones. It is significant, however, that Zeus himself intervenes to save Hector from a shaft aimed at him by Teucer.

Teukros broke the well wound string on his blameless bow as he drew it: the arrow, heavy with bronze, went astray and the bow fell from his hand 150

Similarly, Athena brushes away Pandaros’ arrow aimed at Menelaus ‘like a mother brushing a fly away from a sleeping child’151. Teucer, as he rains arrows down on the Trojans, dodges in and out of his half-brother Ajax’s protective shield ‘like a child peeping around his mother’s skirts in a game’. 152

Both similes are ‘unwarlike’, no references to ‘lions’ in these instances, in fact they are curiously domestic and even light hearted.

Philoctetes ‘well skilled in archery’153 is important at the end of the Trojan war, so much so that he is listed in the catalogue of warriors 154even though he is absent from the fighting as he is on the island of Lemnos, suffering strong pains, in agony with an

149 Iliad Bk II 385-87 150 Iliad Bk 15 lines 458-461 151 Iliad Bk 8 line 271 152 Iliad Bk 4 lines 130-131 153 Iliad Bk 2 line 718 154 Iliad’ Bk 2 line 716-728. This is a characteristic of epic, for example the catalogue of Knights in the ‘Morte’.

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evil wound given to him by a deadly water snake. Each of the seven ships under his leadership embarked fifty men ‘well skilled in archery in battle’. It is Philoctetes who kills Paris shortly after the latter has killed Achilles at a distance with an arrow. 155

Part c Kings and Captains: c i, Greek; the Atridae, Diomedes, Ajax, Patroklos, Nestor. c ii, Trojan; Hector, Paris, Priam. It is a characteristic of epic that the hero is presented not only as an exceptional individual but also shown in comparison with other lesser heroes. All have some of his characteristic traits but no one possesses them all and certainly not to the same degree as the hero does. Homer’s genius, Cedric Whitman156 claims, was to introduce heroic soul- searching into the Iliad and to rise above the rough and tumble of action sagas. Homer elevates the hero from the half primitive concept of physical prowess, murderous dexterity and colossal self-assertion of the warrior as a barbarian to being an individual who is conscious of his feelings of despair; Achilles withdraws; Lancelot goes mad ; Marlowe drives around declaiming to himself that he is ‘not human tonight’.157

Agamemnon, son of Atreus and brother of red haired Menelaus is the King of Mycenae or Argos and probably was an historical person. Homer often refers to each of the brothers as ‘Atreides’, son of Atreus. Agamemnon is at Troy because of the obligations dictated by his ties of blood and by his regal position, thus all of his actions should be for the common good. In alienating Achilles for purely personal reasons, Agamemnon comes close to destroying the very cause for which he has come to Troy. Instead of accepting his responsibilities as a King of Men and thus sacrificing his own geras to placate the Archer god Apollo who has been raining arrows on the Argive host158, Agamemnon refuses to behave like a king should. Instead, he regards his loss as an insult rather than the fulfilment of a responsibility and his only thought is to make good his loss immediately. Why does he choose Achilles instead of a lesser warrior? It is because Agamemnon wants to prove that even though he must submit to the wishes of a god, he can still exert obedience from the most powerful warrior under his command.

155 Homer says little more about him, only that he returned safely to Greece in the Odyssey Bk 3 line 190, as did Idomeneus and Achilles’s Myrmidons. The killing of Paris takes place in the ‘Little Iliad’ 156 Cedric Whitman op.cit supra Chapter III passim. 157 Raymond Chandler ‘The Long Good-bye’ Penguin Books page 79

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…. you have always been the most hostile towards me, for conflict was always dear to you, and war and fighting…. I care nothing for your anger and for you….I myself will take Briseis of the fair face, your geras, so that you may truly know how much greater I am than you and so that any other man will not dare proclaim himself my equal.159

Agamemnon does not display kingship, he just wants to put Achilles in his place and show personal power. Achilles, on the other hand, is not a king and has no responsibilities: he is a hero. To him the Greek cause is nothing, he fights for personal glory; he kills Hector for personal reasons, not to remove the greatest warrior from wreaking havoc on the Greeks. The quarrel, the consequences and the superficial reconciliation between the two men ( both blame the gods and fate) is seen by the audience as an example that in epics, public matters are more important than private matters and personal desire must be sublimated to duty. Aeneas is victorious because he obeys the dictates of duty. He is the Commander in Chief of the Argive forces against Troy and has personal valour but lacks the resolution required by a supreme commander and hero. His petulance over status leads to the quarrel with Achilles that is the mainspring of the plot of the Iliad.160 He is a foil to Achilles whereas Patroklos is both heroic enough to substitute for Achilles and to serve as the embodiment of gentleness and friendship. Agamemnon is greedy, truculent, untruthful and boastful. He veers between meanness and generosity, confidence and despair. He even advocates genocide, ‘not one of them could escape…no baby boy still in his mother’s belly, all Ilium wiped out, no tears for their lives, no marker for their graves.’161

His opinion of Menelaus, expressed to Nestor, says more about Agamemnon’s personal qualities than about those of his brother.

158 Apollo is αργυροτοζ (argyrotox) the archer) Iliad Bk. 1 lines 37-42. 159 Iliad Bk 1 lines 176-187. 160 Iliad Book 1 lines 185-187 ‘I myself shall take Briseis of the lovely cheeks….that you may fully comprehend how much mightier I am than you.’ 161 Iliad Book 6 lines 65-67.

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He [Menelaus] is often inclined to do nothing and let things slide, not because of laziness or lack of brains but because he looks to me and depends on my initiative.162

Yet Agamemnon merits the protection of Hera of the’ white arms’. It is Hera who saves him from death at the hands of the enraged Achilles who cogitates ‘whether to kill the son of Atreus or whether he (Achilles) should check his wrath and curb his spirit’.163 The dignity and power of Agamemnon is emphasised in the early part of the epic. Helen, standing on the ramparts of Troy identifies some of the Achaean heroes for the Trojan nobles assembled around King Priam. Agamemnon is described in detail three times in the Iliad164 Even from a distance, Priam notes one man who stands out, ‘I have never yet set eyes on one so regal, so majestic’. Helen confirms that the man is ‘Agamemnon, lord of Empires, both a mighty King and a strong spearman’. She then identifies Odysseus who, by contrast, is ‘the great tactician … he is quick in every treachery under the sun, a man of twists and turns’.165

Agamemnon has Book Eleven as his day of glory, and his ‘magnificent’ armour is described in great detail as befits a hero and a king. So mighty is his warlike majesty that ‘Athena and Hera let fly a crack of thunder exulting the great King of Mycenae, rich in gold’. The great battle of this book serves as a character sketch of Agamemnon and contains a concentration of terrible scenes of slaughter. Brianor is speared through the brain and he and his companions are ‘despoiled’ and left naked on the field of battle. Agamemnon drives his sword into the ear of one of Priam’s sons and he is compared to a lion crunching with his strong teeth the helpless offspring of a deer. Pisander and Hippolodorus ask for mercy but both are refused; Hippolodorus has his head and hands lopped off, ‘the head hurled like a quoit’. When Agamemnon is wounded after killing one more warrior, his pain is described grotesquely as being like ‘the pains of childbirth’. Thus Agamemnon’s aristeia ends with a less than heroic victory. The rest of the Book is devoted to a description of him covered in gore and the audience is

162 Iliad Bk 10 lines 141-145 163 Iliad Bk 1 lines 188-200 164 Bk2 lines 42ff; Bk 3 lines 166ff and Bk 11 lines 15-46. Achilles’ss dress is mentioned only once, when he dons his new armour. 165 Iliad Bk 3 lines 200-230 (passim)

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provided with savage details of Agamemnon’s violent prowess as a warrior, killing young Trojan champions, ‘like devouring fire roaring down onto the dead timber.’166

However, he comes off second best to Achilles in their quarrel. He admits that he was blinded by his own ‘inhuman rage’ but he is prepared to make amends, albeit on his own terms ‘let him bow down to me’ because he is ‘a greater King, elder born and the greater man’. 167 The immense compensation he gives to his envoys to placate Achilles is a measure of his status and power. Similarly, the feasts that he provides are a manifestation of his greatness. Before a council of war, he entertains all the important chieftains with ‘a feast to please their hearts’.168Agamemnon’s psychology is bound by his material greatness. His quarrel with Achilles arises from the fact that he would be the only Achaean hero without a suitable prize. His original offer to Achilles is of a ‘woman just as good’ as Briseis but in this he shows his limitation s as he sees only the ‘cash’ value of the woman. His later offer of amends is likewise a ‘cash’ offer (women, cauldrons, bronze tripods even a ‘state marriage’). All are refused, as Achilles cares nothing for their ‘cash’ value.

After Agamemnon and Achilles have reconciled, the Atrides comes to participate in one of the events of the Funeral Games Achilles has staged in honour of Patroklos. When ‘the spear throwers rose to compete’ they include ‘Agamemnon Lord of the far-flung kingdoms’. As noted earlier, Achilles at once calls off the contest and awards first prize to Agamemnon. The Lord of Men, ‘could not resist’ and with his prize, a flower- embossed cauldron and the public show of respect from a hero, he returned to his hollow ships. The other trophy, the ‘shadow-casting spear’, Achilles awards to the warrior Meriones who in turn passes it down to his herald.169

The two defining incidents in the Iliad for Agamemnon are his quarrel with Achilles and his desire to abandon the war and leave Troy. In the case of the former, he is made to pay full measure for the heart breaking insult, yet he does not apologise.170 In the

166 Iliad Bk 11 lines 16-50 167 Iliad Bk 9 138, 189-193. Agamemnon uses the word to tame damaoo (δαμαω) to subdue a wild animal or even for a man to ‘tame’ his bride. Hector’s epithet is ίπποδαμοιο (hippodamoio) horse breaker 168‘ Iliad’ Bk 11line 179 169 Iliad Bk 23 lines 981-985. 170 Iliad Bk 9lines 20-40 passim, also line 473, no apology

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latter, his face ‘streaming tears like a dark spring running down a rock face’, he tells his troops to ‘cut and run’ as the Argives ‘shall never take the wide streets of Troy’. It is a real crisis of leadership and unheroic. It is Diomedes who rallies the troops, saying that he and Sthenelus171, his adjutant, will stay alone if necessary and fight their way to Troy172.

Agamemnon’s brother the red-haired Menelaus, is treated well by Homer and given hero status. He is prominent in Book 3 where he agrees to settle the dispute over Helen by a duel with Paris. He is ‘like a wild beast’, he is ‘thrilled in his heart’ that he will fight Paris in mortal combat and thus get his revenge for the theft of his wife Helen. Menelaus is ‘shining among the champions’. Paris, on the other hand is all show, he has ‘the skin of a leopard shiny across his shoulders and a war bow at his back’, but he takes one look at the Atrides and ‘trembling grips his knees’. Eventually they fight and Menelaus overcomes Paris. He is dragging him, chocking and struggling, back to the Greek lines by holding on to Paris’ helmet. However, Aphrodite intervenes, snaps Paris’ chinstrap, snatches him away from the battlefield, wrapped in mist, and places him down in his perfumed bedchamber where Helen awaits him. The two ‘lost themselves in love’ while Menelaus stands bewildered on the field of battle. His brother calls out to all assembled on the battleground that Helen and all her treasure must be surrendered: the Argive armies ‘roared in agreement’173.

Menelaus’ shining hour, however, is when he defends the slain Patroklos. ‘Crested in his gleaming bronze armour’ Menelaus stands astride the body ‘like a mother cow lowing for her calf, her first born, first labour pains that she has felt’. It is Ajax who aids Menelaus in this task of rescuing the corpse of Patroklos. At one point in the fight he is ‘forced back step by step with Hector like a stubborn donkey driven out of a cornfield by boys who beat him with sticks’174. These similes drawn from every day life, ordinary

Agamemnon’s fate is revealed in the ‘Oresteia’ the trilogy of plays by Aeschylus. Agamemnon returns to Argos in triumph laden with spoils and with his prize, Cassandra, prophetess daughter of King Priam. However, Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murder both Cassandra and Agamemnon. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, after he has grown to maturity kills the usurpers with the help of his sister Electra. Eventually he is purified for the murder of his mother and rules Argos. 171 He is one of the warriors in the Horse. ‘Iliad’ Bk. 4 lines 402-410 172 Iliad Bk. 3 lines 21 ff, passim. 173 Iliad Bk 6 lines 658-662 174 Iliad Bk 11 lines 653-662.

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activities of farming in peacetime, serve to heighten the grim life of the hero whose sole task is carnage. They counterbalance heroic values with those which heroes destroy, those of ordinary mortals. Menelaus’ killing of the young Trojan, Euphorbus, is similarly likened to a young olive tree which has been carefully nurtured by a farmer, suddenly being ripped out from the soil by a gale.

It is after the chariot race during the Games in honour of Patroklos, that Menelaus shows that he is every inch a King and worthy of hero status. He is fouled during the race by young Antilochus, Nestor’s impetuous son, who beats him into second place. The angry Menelaus demands justice. When Antilochus immediately surrenders the prize mare and acknowledges that he would not for anything fall from favour, Menelaus yields to his appeal and gives the young man the prize, so that all will know that his ‘heart is never rigid and unrelenting’175.

Menelaus reappears in the Odyssey having returned home with Helen and with his hollow ships so laden with booty that the gunwales are almost level with the sea. It is he who tells the young Telemachus of the exploits of his long lost father, Odysseus.

In Homer there is a strict pecking order of heroes. The major ones kill more enemies than the minor ones, they endure the pain of wounds more stoically and launch their personal aristeia, with greater violence and energy. All the major heroes, for example, are described with the aid of ‘lion’ similes.

One such major hero is Diomedes, the son of Tydeus (thus often referred to as Tydeides), King of Argo and Deipyle. His attractive personality provides a foil for Achilles. Also similar in personality to Diomedes, but not so prominent, is Idomeneus, son of Deucalion, King of Crete. He is perhaps the most attractive of Agamemnon’s captains and is distinguished whenever he takes to the field. Like Diomedes, he too eventually returns home, we are told in Odyssey Book 3.

Diomedes is very fond of his father and there are so many references by him to the exploits of Tydeus, that some commentators have suggested that there may have existed

175 Iliad Bk 23 lines 650-680 (passim).

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a now ‘lost’ poem of the heroics of Tydeus. When Diomedes engages in battle, he is ‘like a winter torrent that comes rushing down and flattens the earthen dykes’. In Book 5, which, in modern translations of the Iliad, is entitled ‘The heroic actions of Diomedes’ (Diomedous aristeia) he even fights with the gods? He wounds Aphrodite on the wrist when she is on the battlefield to rescue her son Aeneas from danger. He is not afraid of the gods and when Apollo in one engagement roars at him to step back from Hector, Diomedes does so but ‘just a little’.

Apollo, behaving like a hero himself, tears down the rampant of the Greeks ‘with the same ease some boy at the seaside knocks down sand castles. He no sooner builds his play thing up, child’s play, than he wrecks them all with hands and feet, just for the fun of it’176.

Diomedes is often outspoken in the councils of the chiefs and ‘the Lord of the war cry’ opposes vigorously Agamemnon’s suggestion that the Greek should give up and return home177. Nestor praises him ‘in war indeed you are mighty and in counsel too you surpass all your generation’178. He is a model of warlike skills. When Achilles is on fire with blood lust and urges an immediate attack, it is Diomedes who persuades him to let the men first ‘take food and wine, the soldiers’ strength and nerve’. He goes even further and shortly after this, he ‘took the gift of sleep’. He is contemptuous of the bow as a weapon for heroes to use in combat. He is wounded in the right foot by Paris who gloats at his marksmanship. Diomedes insults Paris and while protected by Odysseus’s shield, he pulls ‘the winged arrow from his foot, as the raw pain went stabbing through his flesh’179 and endures the pain uncomplaining as he is driven back to his own lines.

His prowess with horses is equally heroic. He is a ‘breeder of stallions’180 and he wins the chariot race held during the Funeral Games. As soon as he crosses the finishing line, he jumps from the chariot and in sheer boyish delight received the applause of the assembled warriors and the tripod and slave women in prize as he exalts in his

176 Iliad Bk 15 lines 360-366 177 Iliad Bk 9 line 849 178 Iliad Bk 9 lines 53-54. Also line 862 ff 179 Iliad Bk 11 lines 385-395 180 Iliad Bk 9 line 880

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triumph.181 Diomedes’ night raid, with Odysseus, in the camp of the Trojans is typical of an action hero. They sneak into the encampment, kill the spy Dolon and then steal the magnificent horses of Rhesus after killing him.

Perhaps the most poignant illustration of Diomedes’ heroic character is the episode involving Glaucus, a Lycian ally of Troy. The two foes acknowledge an existing relationship of ‘guest friend’ and perform the ritual of gifts of armour, as is appropriate in civilised societies, before hostilities are resumed182.

Another hero who is often likened to a lion is Ajax, son of Telamon. He is not to be confused with the leader of the Locrians the lesser Ajax or the Runner, son of Oileus. This Ajax raped Cassandra, desecrated the Trojan altars and caused the Greek fleet to be ship wrecked on its homeward journey. He is insolent and conceited and in the Funeral Games, he is beaten in the foot race by Odysseus. Athena trips up Ajax and he slips in cow dung and falls headlong. At the end of the race he is spitting out dung and cursing the goddess who favoured Odysseus, a ‘man out of the dark ages’. The crowd of spectators ‘roared with laughter at his expense.’ In the Odyssey, he brings about his own destruction, a classic example of nemesis. He brags to the gods and Poseidon topples him into the sea where he dies ‘having drunk his fill of salt water’183.

Ajax, son of Telamon, King of Salamis, is the half-brother of the best of the Achaean bowmen, Teucer. He is ‘a glutton for battle’184, he defends, with Menelaus the body of Patroklos ‘like a lion guarding its cubs from the hunters’185 and later in combat he is likened to a wild boar and is described as ‘greatest in handsome build and greatest in works of war’.

While clearly of hero in stature and status, Ajax also represents the plain speaking warrior unaccustomed to the subtleties of competitions and rivalries for a higher place in the pecking order. He is described as peloorios (πελώριος) immense, head and shoulders above all others, and the stock epithet for him is erkos, (έρκος) bulwark.

181 Iliad Bk 23 lines 565-570. Ajax is a sore loser, lines 860-870 182 Iliad Bk 6 the ritual of ‘guest-friend’, passim. In Odyssey Bk 3, we learn that Diomedes returned safely home to his Kingdom. 183 Odyssey Bk 4 lines 560-570 184 Iliad Bk 12 line 335

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Achilles tells Iris that the only man similar in size to him is Ajax as he is the only Achaean whose armour will fit him.186 Even his weapons are noteworthy. His shield has ‘seven ox hides within it quilted hard’187 and it is also described by Ovid in the Metamorphoses as ‘clipei dominus septemplicis Ajax’188 His comments on Achilles’s withdrawal from combat show that he finds this stance incomprehensible. What does Achilles care about Agamemnon’s opinion of him when he has the respect and admiration of the entire army? ‘We long to be your closest dearest comrades’189. At one point, the relationship between Achilles and the Greek army is ‘like that of a mother bird with her nestlings. Ajax misunderstands the reason for the quarrel. ‘And all this for a girl when we offer seven!’

Ajax’s defining episode in heroic epic is his desire to win the armour of Achilles, a contest he loses to Odysseus. When the two meet in Hades in the Odyssey (Book 11) Ajax is still resentful at the shame he endured. This stubborn and taciturn hero went mad from disappointment and fell off a cliff fighting a flock of sheep which he imagined to be enemy soldiers, later poets tell us.190 In Homer, Odysseus is shown to be merely an equal to Ajax physically. The two men wrestle at the Funeral Games, they are so evenly matched that they stand locked together ‘like the rafters a master builder wedges tight’. Achilles breaks the stalemate as the troops watching have grown bored and he tells the wrestlers not to ‘kill yourselves in sport!’ In this instance, the men happily share the prize191.

When Odysseus is awarded the armour of Achilles, stripped from the body of Hector, Ajax loses his reason and ends his life rather than enduring this shame. The Greeks regarded this as an exemplary gesture and not an example of megalomanic pride. Ajax is a hero and his individual sense of personal worth demands satisfaction from Agamemnon and Odysseus. This is shown clearly in Sophocles’ play, where Ajax says

185 Iliad Bk 17 lines 133-136; also 320-322 186 Iliad Bk 18. lines 192-193. 187 Iliad Bk. 7 lines 164, translation by George Chapman op.cit. 188‘Lord Ajax’s seven times banded shield’, it must have weighed a ton! See also Ovid’s Metamorphoses xiii line 2. 189 Iliad Bk 9 lines 628-639. Also Bk 9 lines 323-325 190 Shakespeare refers to this in ‘Love’s Labour Lost’ Act iv scene 3 ‘This love is as mad as Ajax; it kills sheep’. 191 ‘Iliad Bk 23 lines 801-820

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‘If Achilles were alive and in a position to decide about the arms, no one else would have them rather than me’192.

The same man who shamed Achilles has shamed him in the same publicly humiliating manner ‘The Atridae have given them (the arms) to a man of unscrupulous character, dismissing my achievements in the war’. Perhaps it could be argued that the noble act for a hero would be to continue living in order to ensure protection for his family. However, Ajax’s interpretation of nobility and of honour is, like Achilles, an intensely individualistic one. He must seek satisfaction for this unjustified humiliation or he would have to reject the spirit of cooperative endeavour among warriors and the authority of the Atridae. He would, in his own words, ‘become womanised in speech’ and develop the sort of submissive self-control sophronein193 that makes a person ‘yield to the gods and worship the Atridae. Ajax sees the failure of these leaders to award him the arms of Achilles as a massive breach of the ethic of reciprocal comradeship. Therefore, when he fails in his attempt at revenge only suicide is an option.

While not heroes themselves, there are three characters in the Iliad who are instrumental in forming the personality of the principal hero, Achilles. Furthermore, they find themselves in the epics which follow as the ‘wise old men’ who are deeply respected by the hero and who moderate his more aggressive tendencies194. The centaur Chiron has taught Achilles medicine, music, skill with horses, hunting and the martial arts. He also gave to Peleus the ash spear which is so potent that only his son Achilles can use it in battle195.

It is Phoenix, however, who is Achilles’s surrogate father, referring to him ‘as the son he could not have’196. It is he who leads the embassy to Achilles and he begins his supplication by recalling the golden days of the hero’s childhood, when he sat on Phoenix’s knee while the old man fed him. He also taught him polemos (πολεμος) and

192 Sophocles ‘Ajax’ 440 BCE. Also Odyssey Bk 11 line 543 ff and the ‘Little Iliad’ 193 Σωφρονειν to be moderate, discreet, not heroic virtues. 194 Nestor is the archetype for the venerated older man. Latinus and Evander are admired by Aeneas, Arthur has Merlin and Philip Marlow not only risks his life to protect the reputation of General Sternwood, but also shows respect and admiration for ‘old style cops’ such as Sherrif Jim Patton and Bernie Ohls. Mentor, who is in loco parentis for Telemachus, has actually had his name incorporated into English to signify a person exerting a formative influence on a less experienced person. 195 Iliad Bk 16 lines 141-144 196 Iliad Bk 9 line 494-495

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agoree (αγορη), skills in war and in the assembly, the bases of the cooperative activity so essential in both combat and council in order to win wealth, glory and reputation.

The universally respected elder is Nestor, King of Pylos, the oldest of Agamemnon’s captains. He gives endless advice to everyone within earshot, but although he is often referred to as the great military tactician, there is only one example of it. His worth is in good counsel, and he persuades Agamemnon to send an embassy to Achilles .He also suggests that Patroklos borrow the armour of Achilles and thus breathe new hope into the demoralized Argives. Perhaps his best years are behind him but he can still lift and drink the wine from the four-handled dove cup. When he rouses Diomedes to put on his armour, the younger man shakes free from sleep and says to the old man who is fully armed ‘You are a hard old man … there’s no holding you down venerable Lord’. The Gerenian charioteer likes to recall his glory days as when he was forced to go to one war on foot because his father had hidden his horses, in an attempt to keep him at home. Nestor quickly captured an enemy chariot ‘I excelled among other horsemen even though I was a foot soldier’197.

While watching the Funeral Games, Nestor recalls his own contests, ‘Once I shone among the young heroes’. He also gives advice to his young son on what tactics to use during a chariot race. He talks of skill and cunning but says nothing about fair play. As a result of this advice, Antilochus manages to foul Menelaus and to incur the wrath of the Atrides198.

Achilles behaves graciously and awards the old man a souvenir of the occasion,

This, old man, is yours to store up as treasure in memory of the burial of Patroklos as you will never again see him among the Argives. I give you this prize as a gift, since never again will you fight with your fists nor wrestle, nor enter again on the field for a spear throwing contest, nor a race on foot, as now the hardship of old age is upon you199.

197 Iliad Bk 19 lines 388-391 198 Iliad Bk 23 line 645 and also line 306 ff 199 Iliad Bk 23 lines 618-623

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A truly major hero though, along with Hector the Champion of Troy, is Patroklos200. He is the opposite of Achilles and it is he who becomes the focus of the admiration and adulation of the audience of this epic201.

Having to flee his home because, in anger, he had killed a man over a game of knucklebones, Patroklos is received by Peleus as a ‘retainer’ for the young Achilles. Homer tells us nine times that he and Achilles have a’ familiar’ relationship. He is referred to as philos, (φιλος) a beloved friend. He is presented as a mentor for Achilles and as a counsellor, an ‘older brother’ figure202.

The poem offers no direct evidence of whether the relationship between the two men is an erotic one. Indeed, Homer informs us that while Achilles sleeps with a woman he has brought from Lesbos, Patroklos sleeps with the slave girl ‘lovely Iphis’, a gift from Achilles. Gilbert Murray sums it up pretty well, ‘Homer has swept this whole business root and branch out of his conception of life’203. What the men do is care for each other. They appear to enjoy each other’s company. Patroklos listens to Achilles singing of epic heroes. They speak very plainly to each other pretty much as equals even though Patroklos is shown in some instances as a retainer, for example preparing a meal for the envoys and attending to the aged Phoenix. Patroklos has been largely silent during the heated discussion with the envoys of Agamemnon. When Achilles asks Phoenix to spend the night in their tent, he asks Patroklos to assemble some bedding for the old man. ‘Thus he spoke and Patroklos obeyed his dear companion’, a term often used when referring to the two men204.

This theme of love and care runs counter to that of the dark violence and destruction that permeates the Iliad. Patroklos is a paradox, a hero who is both a caregiver and a killer, behaving in turn like child and like a lion. Zeus himself refers to him as ‘powerful and kind’205.

200 The name is a combination of the words for ‘honour’ (kleos) and ‘father’ (pater) and in this it is similar to the feminine version of this name, Cleopatra. 201 There are similarities with the ‘Morte D’Arthur’ in which Lancelot becomes the character who is most admired, supplanting Arthur. 202 Iliad Bk 11 line 786 ff 203 Gilbert Murray (1924) ‘The Rise of the Greek Epic’, Clarendon Press Oxford Page 125 204 Iliad Bk 9 line 205

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Patroklos takes pity on the suffering of the Greek army, due to the withdrawal of Achilles, whom he recognises as deinos (δείνος) ‘terrible’ in the sense of extraordinary, shocking. He chides Achilles for ‘warping his noble nature with ignoble deeds’. Achilles scorns Patroklos’ pity, the taunts the weeping Patroklos and his account of the Trojan victory at the Greek ships, the comparing him to a young child,

like a small girl who runs besides her mother and cries to be picked up and holds on to her gown and will not let go, looking up in tears until she gets what she wished for206.

Patroklos’ reply is conciliatory ‘Don’t be angry, as much grief has befallen the Achaeans’ His compassion is shown when he stops to tend to his wounded comrade Eurypylus even though he must take an urgent message from Nestor to Achilles207. It is Patroklos’ own lion-like courage which kills him208. When he goes off to fight, he does so in what the Greeks would regard as an uncharacteristic fashion not wanting to amass personal glory. In the highly competitive world of the Homeric lore, Patroklos is uncompetitive: he will fight to bring honour to Achilles, not to himself. As he urges on his men, he says.

Be men dear friends, remember your furious valour, we must bring honour to Peleus’ son209.

By contrast, in Achilles’s eyes, fighting is such a burden that it is only worthwhile if the hero receives appropriate honour for his efforts.

Patroklos wearing the armour of Achilles, rushes into battle ‘like a god’ but the god Apollo is against him and using the Trojan Euphorbus with his ashen spear as an instrument ‘Apollo stood behind him [Patroklos] and struck his back and broad shoulders and his eyes were made to spin around’. Then Patroklos’ ‘soul went down to

205 Iliad Bk 17 line 204 206 Iliad Bk 16 lines 7-10 207 Iliad Bk 16 lines 21-22 208 Iliad Bk 16 lines 751-753 209 Iliad Bk 16 lines 270-271

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the House of Death bewailing his fate, leaving his manhood far behind, his young and supple strength’210.

On learning of his death, Briseis flung herself on the body in her deep distress. She recalled Patroklos’ kindness to her211 and how he had vowed to make her Achilles’s lawful wedded wife and to hold a marriage feast attended by the Myrmidons. Achilles’s immortal horses also mourn the death of their much-loved charioteer

their heads trailing along the ground, warm tears flowing down from their eyes to wet the earth, the horses mourned212.

Zeus himself takes pity on their tears and he addresses his own heart with the immortal phrase that is the epitaph of heroes

There is nothing alive more agonised than man of all that breathe and crawl upon the earth.

As a hero, Achilles has the rôle of protector and caregiver and his failure to protect Patroklos defies this expectation. Hence Achilles is overwhelmed by guilt and by grief because ‘I was not standing by my companion when he was killed’. He cuts his hair, he weeps so uncontrollably that those standing near him fear that he may take his own life. Until Patroklos is avenged, Achilles refuses food and drink. He scorns Odysseus for suggesting food before a battle as neither food nor drink will travel down his throat, not with his companion dead. He cares nothing for the men, they can eat after the battle.

Achilles is ‘like a lion who has lost his cubs’213. He behaves like a true hero, he knows the prophecy that he will die shortly after Hector yet he embraces what fate has in store for him. When he swears off his rage the assembled Achaeans roar with joy.

However, before the revenge is taken, the funeral rites for the ghost of Patroklos must be observed, one of the tasks is the honourable disposal of the panoply of Patroklos.

210 Iliad Bk 16 lines 783-792 211 Iliad Bk 19 lines 287-300 212 Iliad Bk 17 lines 426-428 and lines 460-462

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Much of Book 23 is devoted to the Games and this part of the narrative provides a respite from the fighting to come. It also shows the ‘reformed’ Achilles, not a petulant young man captive of his anger, vanity and self-absorption but a great and munificent lord, showing all the appropriate virtues of a hero mourning a fallen comrade. And yet even in this, Achilles goes to extremes when he barbarously indulges in the ultimate primitive horror for Greeks, that of human sacrifice, when twelve young Trojan nobles are burnt on the funeral pyre of Patroklos, ‘such evil deeds did he [Achilles] contrive in his breast’214.

The Games provide another venue for heroes to display their prowess, and sporting contests have become inextricably linked with the concept of heroism. The Odyssey and the Aeneid have athletic competitions and Malory devotes a great deal of attention to the jousting tournaments of Arthur and his heroic band of followers. Philip Marlowe, as a working class hero, does not indulge in physically competitive sports, preferring to limit his tournaments to the chessboard. Winners are rewarded with treasure of great value and the victors display the characteristics which stand them in good stead on the battlefield. Nestor advises his son on tactics in chariot racing; the wrestling sees Ajax and Odysseus evenly matched while it is the old timers out of the dark ages like Odysseus who win other contests by their cunning defeating young men who rely only on the strength of youth.

The Iliad concludes with the statement that time will be allocated for the proper rites for Hector, tamer of horses, once his body has been taken back to Troy. The Trojans, however, post lookouts as they bury Hector in case the Greeks attacked before the truce ended.

For Homer, the warring groups are virtually indistinguishable in terms of culture and values. Even the names of the Trojans sound Ionic. This similarity and the universality of relevance for all who are products of the Hellenic system of education based on epics resonates in the poem Trojans by the Alexandrine C. P. Cavafy215. ‘It is our efforts that are like to Trojans…Achilles terrifies us with his war cries and we lose our courage and

213 Iliad Bk 18 lines 102-104 also Iliad Bk 19 lines 250-255 214 Iliad Bk 23 lines 175-176

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our resolution’. It is an interpretation full of compassion for Hector’s flight from Achilles.

It is glorious Hector, ‘of the shining helmet’ who is the real foil for Achilles. Indeed, he is one of Caxton’s Pagan Worthies216. Aristotle217 labels him ‘straight thinking’ orthos logos (ορθος λογος) He is a hero in his maturity, he has all the prerequisites but he fights not for personal glory, but for the defence of his homeland and for the protection of his family. He is aware of what is required of a warrior before combat and he does not want to lose this edge. He refuses wine offered by his mother saying,

Bring me no honey-hearted wine, honoured mother, lest it may hinder me and I become forgetful of my might and valour.218

Self-trust is the very essence of heroism and when Hector begins to doubt his strength against that of Achilles, he is finished as a champion. He knows that Troy will fall, yet he hopes to die bravely, and the farewell scene between Hector and his wife Andromache, holding their child Astyanax, is one of great emotional force. His love of family however, will not stop him from performing his duties as a hero. As he holds his son in his arms for what the audience knows will be the last time, Hector predict a hero’s life for the infant

there is a better man than his father. Let him kill his enemies and bring home the bloodied spoils219.

All know that this will not come to pass. It has been pointed out by numerous critics that there is an ‘inconsistency’ in the epic in that Hector, newly married, would be about twenty-five years old whereas Paris would be about forty. 220 Yet Hector is described as

215 C. P. Cavafy ‘Trojans’ translated from modern Greek by Anastasios Kozaitis. Text attached as an Appendix . 216 Caxton’s Worthies – see Appendicies 217 Aristotle also advocated adherence to two Delphic oracles’ know yourself ‘γνοθι σεαατόν and ‘moderation’ μηδεν αγαν., neither regarded by heroes as virtues. 218 Iliad Bk 6 lines 264-265. 219 Iliad Bk 6 line 591 220 The Oxford Classical Dictionary’s entry on Paris states that he was removed at birth from the Royal family because his mother Hecuba dreamt that she had given birth to a firebrand that would destroy Troy. The infant Paris survived miraculously and grew up to become a shepherd. As a young man, he emerges from obscurity and defeats his brothers in a boxing match. He is recognized by his father Priam and is

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Priam’s heir. He is publicly critical of his brother telling him ‘You have plenty of courage but you are too ready to give up when it suits you’. He labels his brother akolastos (ακολαστος) undisciplined. Hector is portrayed as behaving like Paris’ older brother221. There is no doubt that he is the bravest of the Trojan captains and he is often compared to a bird of prey.

Like a tawny eagle darts on a flock of winged fowl that are feeding by a river bank … so Hector made for the dark prowed ships of the Achaeans.

The similes such as these that describe the violence of hunting222 assist with characterisation and with foreshadowing, the violence in nature is reflected in the violence of humans. This juxta-positioning between the activities of war and peace generates pathos and these polar opposites are the basic constituents of archaic Greek thought. Hector as a warrior in Book Six is compared to Hector as husband and father. There is a world of care giving beyond the battlefield and Andromache further emphasises this juxta positioning by saying, ‘You own great strength will be your own death’223.

Hector is impatient to attack the Greeks as caution is not the road to honour. His exchanges with Polydamas, who personifies prudence, underscore the qualities of a hero possessed by Hector.

Achilles has transferred all of his hatred for Agamemnon to Hector and killing him will be like soothing honey for his gaping wounds of anger and grief. The killing of Hector is the satisfaction of this personal hatred. Hector has no such personal animosity towards Achilles, he sees him merely as an efficient killing machine ‘How much lighter the war would be for the Trojans if you, their greatest scourge, were dead and gone’224.

welcomed back to Troy. The similarity with the removal of Mordred because of a prophecy that he would destroy his father’s kingdom can also be noted. 221 To emphasize this point, the film ‘Troy’ actually reverses the ages of the two men, having Paris played by a very youthful actor. 222 Iliad Bk 15 lines 690-695 223 Iliad Bk 6 line 480 224 Iliad Bk 22 lines 339-340

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Achilles makes clear to Hector his intention to desecrate his body ‘I’ll eat you raw. No man alive could keep the dog pack off you, not for twenty times any offered ransom’225. In this rage the godlike Achilles is imitating the goddess Hera who ‘could eat the Trojan armies raw’226.

Dragging the corpse of Hector behind his chariot is as contemptuous as it is horrible. The continued mutilation of Hector’s body symbolises the impossible desire of Achilles to extend his revenge indefinitely, hence the body is prevented from disintegrating or decaying. However, by Book Twenty-Four, the gods are displeased with the excesses of Achilles and must decide the fate of Hector’s corpse. They have had enough of Achilles’s bestial behaviour ‘like some lion, going his own brutal way, surrendering to his desire, his animal force and his untamed pride’227.

All this changes when Priam makes his way into the camp of Achilles. The old man appears ‘like a god’ theoeidia (θεοειδής ) and he tell Achilles

I have endured what no man on earth has ever done before. I put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son228.

Suddenly aware of the prophecy that he will also die shortly after the death of Hector, Achilles gently pushes the old man away from him and weeps. The tears are for his own father who will also, like Priam, lose a son. The behaviour of Achilles in this concluding episode of the epic is both human and heroic. He orders that Hector’s body be washed and prepared out of sight of Priam. He fears that, seeing the ravaged body of Hector, Priam might fly into a rage and thus he might have to kill the old King.

As is due to a hero, Achilles accepts the offered ransom for Hector’s body. He then requests Priam to sleep the night out of sight, outside the tent and not to arouse the other Greek captains. Achilles shows little respect for his peers when, in a mocking tone, he

225 Iliad Bk 22 line 406-412 226 Iliad Bk 4 line 41 227 Iliad Bk 24 lines 48-50 228 Iliad Bk 24 lines 480-483

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explains that if the leaders found Priam, their endless discussions would delay the payment of the ransom and Priam’s departure to arrange the funeral for Hector229.

The goddess Hera and Athena are implacable enemies of Troy because Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest of the three. In return, he was given the most beautiful woman in the world, with ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’230. Everything that Paris does in the epic further diminishes him. He loses his combat with Menelaus, which should have settled the quarrel in a manner proper to heroes. Paris is rescued from the battlefield by Aphrodite, leaving a raging Menelaus screaming ‘like a wild beast’ for the satisfaction due to a warrior. Even Paris’ wounding shows him in a negative light. Even the Trojans ‘hated him like death, black death’231

It is one of the ironies of epic that such a man as Paris is destined to kill mighty Achilles. Hector foresees that ‘for all your fighting heart Paris and Lord Apollo will destroy you at the Scaean Gate’. Paris will also do so not with an edged weapon, face to face, roaring a war cry, but from afar, with a bow and arrow guided by the archer god Apollo.232

If Aphrodite is solicitous for Paris, she positively dotes on her son Aeneas and rivals Thetis in being the archetypal protective mother. Aeneas is a relatively minor figure in the Iliad and is generally coupled with Hector, as bearing the brunt of Troy’s fighting and being the bravest men233. He and Hector chase the demoralised Achaeans ‘like a falcon and a hawk diving down to kill starlings’234. Yet, when wounded, he faints from the pain and loss of blood, unlike the Argive heroes who bear their hurts manfully. Aphrodite resuscitates him and on several occasions spirits him out of harm’s way. The Trojan soldiery, although successful for a brief time under the leadership of Hector and during Achilles’s absence from combat, is described as being ‘like sheep as they hailed from many parts and were without a common language, using many different cries and

229 Iliad Bk 24 lines 649-655 230 ‘Doctor Faustus’ Christopher Marlowe. In return for his soul, Faustus also receives Helen of Troy, from the Devil. 231 Iliad Bk 3 line 540 232 Iliad Bk 20 line 97 ff flies straight of its own accord. Horace Carmina IV, 6; 3 and (1) Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ Book VI lines 57-59 Versions of the death of Achilles. (2) ‘Apollo who has always pitied the troubles of Troy, who guided the Trojan arrows and the hand of Paris to the body of Achilles’s. 233 Iliad Bk 22 lines 359-360. Achilles is still alive at the end of the Iliad. 234 Iliad Bk 17 lines 850-851

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calls’235. However, it is the remnants of this army that Aeneas will lead to new shores and which will become the ancestors of the Romans.

Part d The Women of Troy; Helen and Andromache Epic poetry, with its focus on masculinity, devotes little time to female characters and yet a number of the women in the Iliad are more than just ciphers, two-dimensional stock characters whose role is to be the mother or the wife of a hero. Having women on the periphery of war and combat also helps to underline the true significance of armed conflict.

According to the myth of Leda and the Swan, Helen is the daughter of Zeus, who disguised as a swan, seduced Leda, the wife of Tyndareus. Helen is thus the sister of Kastor and Polydeukes and of Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. Both Ajax and Odysseus were among her many suitors who competed for her in the footrace organized by Tyndareus. She was given in wife to Menelaus and her failed suitors agreed to band together and support Menelaus should Helen betray him: thus were sown the seeds of the Trojan war.

Her elopement with Paris, whom she follows to Troy is related in many Greek myths, dramas and legends. Some of the tales show her as repentant and remorseful for all the grief she has caused. Euripides, however, sees Helen as evil because through her actions, she has brought about the end of the Age of Heroes. In ‘Helen’236 he has her say ’Many a life besides Scamander’s streams perished for me’, while in ‘Hecuba’237, the audience hears a heart rending lament by Priam’s wife Hecuba,

For grief I fainted, cursing Helen the sister of Kastor and Polydeukes. I cursed Paris, the shepherd from Mount Ida. It was their marriage, which was not a marriage but misery sent by some evil Fate that robbed me of my country and sent me from my home.

235 Iliad The Greeks were contemptuous of the Trojan army, as it was not united in culture but contained ‘barbarian’ allies. 236 Euripides ‘Helen’ Act 3 line 52,’The Bacchae and Other Plays’ Penguin Classics 1997 237 Euripides ‘Hecuba’ Act 1 lines945-946.Translated and Edited by Justina Gregory Oxford University Press, 2000

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Helen spends nineteen years in Troy238 as the acknowledged wife of Paris. At times, under the influence of Aphrodite, she acts like a goddess, seemingly thoughtless of the consequences of her actions. She does reveal a self-critical and human side when she expresses responsibility for her actions and for the misery that they have wrought. Once she has broken out of her prison of self-absorption or self-delusion atee( άτη)239 her regret is genuine and complete. Her beauty is akin to that of the gods, she is a human Aphrodite. When they see her standing next to King Priam on the walls of Troy, in all her beauty, ‘the old chiefs of Troy murmured to one another gentle winged words’. At that moment they understand why the Greeks would fight for such a woman. This is Helen as ‘siren’ and she has remained thus throughout time, most memorably as the temptation for Doctor Faustus to surrender his soul .When he sees Helen as an apparition, Faustus exclaims

O thou art fairer than the evening aire Clad in the beauty of a thousand starres240.

In Helen, Homer has created a woman who is suffering, who strives for some individuality and dignity and for a sense of belonging. She achieves this in spite of the constraints to which she is subjected. In both the Iliad and the Odyssey, she is vilified as the cause for the war241 her status is that of a captive and of a possession, subject to the will of the gods as well as of men. For example, she appears to have little choice as to whom should be her ‘husband’. The goddess Iris, in the form of Helen’s sister-in law Laodike, summons Helen to the walls to watch Menelaus and Paris engage in single combat on the plain below. Iris tells Helen’ You will be the wife of the man who wins you.’242 In this respect, Helen is no different from Briseis who must go with the man who has won her with his spear, Achilles, who has also slain her parents.

Helen is also a hated foreigner, being regarded as the cause of suffering and strife. It is her beauty which is of sufficient value for the Trojans to want to keep her., ‘she

238 This is probably a figure of speech denoting a long time. Iliad Bk 24 line 765. 239 The word also has the connotation of reckless impulse, wickedness 240 Christopher Marlowe ‘Doctor Faustus’. Op.cit.supra 241 Ten times in the ‘ Iliad’ and six times in the Odyssey. 242 Iliad Bk 3 line 138.

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resembles an immortal goddess243. Hector appears to be the only one of the Trojans who apportions the blame for the catastrophe of the war on his brother, Paris, referring to him as’ evil, handsome, woman-crazy deceiver who led a good-looking woman (belonging) to spear-wielding warriors…. causing a great disaster for Troy’244.

Hanna M. Roisman245 elaborates on these three constraints on Helen by examining her six appearances in the Iliad. She shows that while Helen does not develop as a character, she nevertheless reveals her personality fully by the conclusion of the epic and shows qualities that are both admirable in her society and are also timeless. In each of these episodes, Helen speaks to a different ‘audience’.

In her first appearance,246 she is weaving a purple robe into which she has worked ‘the sufferings the Trojans and the Achaeans have endured for my sake’, thus making a graphic record of her own history. She obediently follows the goddess Iris to the walls, in silence.

Once on the walls, the episode referred to as the Teichoskopia (τειχοσοπίά ) ‘looking down from the walls’, Helen is humble and respectful in the presence of King Priam. He addresses her as ‘dear child’ (φιλον τεκος) and she addresses him as ‘dear father-in law’ (φιλε εκυρε) who nevertheless inspires in her both awe (αίδοίός ) and respect (δείνος ). She identifies for Priam three main warriors (Agamemnon, Odysseus and Ajax) and searches in vain for the figures of her brothers among the advancing Greek host. The pathos for the audience is that it knows that both Kastor and Polydeukes are already dead.

Helen is alone with the elders of Troy, she is dignified enough to show her guilt without shame, referring to herself as being ‘dogfaced’ (κυνώπις). This diorama serves the additional purpose of immortalizing the heroes identified by Helen, the men who are fighting over her. At this point, their future is uncertain and Helen’s voice, the voice of

243 Iliad Bk 3 line 158 244 Iliad Bk 3 lines 48-50. 245 Hanna M. Roisman ‘Helen in the Iliad, causa belli and victim of war: from silent weaver to public speaker’ American Journal of Philology 127 (2006) The Johns Hopkins University Press 246 Iliad Bk 3 lines 121-145

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the one over whom the war started, gives them recognition with their enemies. Furthermore, the nature of women as the victims of war is made clear.

Aphrodite rescues Paris from certain death at the hands of Menelaus and spirits him to his bedchamber, where he is placed on a bed, ‘looking as if he has come from a dance’, not combat.247 The goddess then leads Helen to him. Helen protests and displays her sense of shame saying that it would be ‘disgraceful’ for her to join Paris in bed. Indeed, she suggests that Aphrodite herself may want to share the bed with Paris as a wife or even as a slave; high words to speak to a goddess. However, obedience reasserts itself and Helen goes to the bedchamber, covered in a robe and in silence.

In the exchange that follows, Helen initially shows her contempt for Paris by referring to ‘golden-haired Menelaus’ as the stronger man, and by discouraging Paris from any further attempts to fight him as he would again lose. Paris explains away his earlier defeat and invites Helen to bed, ‘He spoke and he led her away to bed and with him followed his wife’248-again, in silence.

In her final two appearances, Helen reveals her exceptional qualities of dignity and eloquence .Hector comes to her house where she is weaving. She greets him as ‘dear brother-in-law and is then critical of her self, saying she is a ‘dog’(κυνος) and ‘evil, contriving and abhorred;249 all these words distance her further from Paris and are the turning point of her rehabilitation by Homer in the eyes of his Greek audience as a woman fit for a hero.

Helen is gentle with Hector and her words show genuine affection towards someone who has been kind to her and who is a man worthy of respect.

It is in her final appearance,250 at Hector’s funeral commemoration, that Helen is accorded the same moral stature as the other ‘virtuous’ women of epic, Andromache and Hecuba. This is a speech before an audience of mourners and she reiterates her

247 Iliad Bk 3 lines 380-420. 248 Iliad Bk 3 lines 421-427 249 Iliad Bk 6 lines 408-409. 250 Iliad Bk 24 lines 761-776.

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regret, expresses her loneliness, her feelings of betrayal and publicly shows her appreciation for the kindness shown her by Priam and Hector.

My father-in-law as kind as my own father I never heard a bad or insulting word from you.

It is noteworthy that this speech follows those of Andromache and of Hecuba: Helen shares the podium with the wife and the mother of a hero. In their speeches the other two women lament being powerless to curb Hector’s aggression, while Helen’s speech, though similar to the previous two in structure, praises Hector’s gentleness. Helen is also a victim of the warrior’s aristeia.

Helen reappears in the Odyssey at the side of Menelaus back in Sparta, graciously receiving the young Telemachus who is on a quest to find his father.251She is unpunished and behaves like Arete, the wife of King Alcinous of Phaecia instead of like a ‘good’ Greek wife. She sits in the palace next to her husband and converses with men on matters of policy. Greek authors were not quite as forgiving as Menelaus. Helen’s ‘epitaph’, from a soldier’s point of view at least, is not favourable, ‘(Helen) hell to ships, hell to men, hell to cities’ says Agamemnon of her.252

Andromache of the white arms, (Ανδρομαχην λευκώλενον ) dutiful wife of Hector embodies all that must be endured by someone who is both the daughter, wife and mother of members of the warrior elite. Hector refers to her as a ‘peerless wife’253 Her father Eetion, King of the Cilicians was killed by Achilles. However, such was the heroic standing of Eetion that Achilles did not strip the body of his armour because ‘he felt awe254 in his heart’. Achilles is truly the scourge of Andromache’s family, as he also kills her husband Hector. Achilles’s son, Neoptolemus, in later accounts, takes Andromache as his slave woman and kills her father-in-law King Priam.255

251 Odyssey Bk 4. 252 Έλεναυς, ελανδρος, ελεπτολις Aeschylus ‘The Oresteia Trilogy’ –‘Agamemnon’ line 689 Translated by Christopher Collard Oxford World Classics 2003 253 Iliad Bk 6 line 374 254 Iliad Bk 6 line 417 sebas (σήβας) also reverence, respect .The stripping of armour as a trophy is termed (spolia) hence ‘spoils’ 255 ‘Aeneid’ Bk 2 lines 551 ff

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One of the episodes most laden with pathos in the Iliad is the family vignette showing Hector’s farewell to his wife and infant son as it encapsulates the significance of a hero’s aristeia on his family. Their leave taking foreshadows what will happen to her, slavery, and to her son, and a violent and brutal death, at the hands of the pitiless victors. With many a backward look, ‘smiling through her tears’ (δακρυόεν γελασασα,) Andromache takes her leave, fearing that she will never see Hector alive again.

Her loving relationship with Hector is seen through her actions, when she prepares a bath for him for his return from battle256 and when she faints upon hearing of his death257 ‘down over her eyes came the darkness of night and she fell backwards’. She also expresses regret that she will never again hear ‘a richly felt word’ from him.258 Andromache’s agony resonates with contemporary audiences as well. The Australian poet Diane Fahey has captured this desolation,

(The details of Hector’s death)….’drift through our home like flakes of ash or buzz like stunned flies around my head…. After a hero closes his eyes, people keep him awake forever: when I close my eyes, I see the years I have lived- a felled avenue of trees.259

Briseis is the Trojan woman taken as a prize of honour when Achilles sacked her hometown of Lymessus. She precipitates the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles when the Atridae takes Briseis to compensate for having to return his prize, Chryseis. She is beautiful260 and is more than just a female companion for Achilles, who regards her as being more than a trophy

I loved that woman with all my heart though I won her like a trophy with my spear. Now he (Agamemnon) has torn my honour from my hands.

256 Iliad Bk 22 lines 437-446. 257 Iliad Bk 22 lines 466-467 258 Iliad Bk 24 lines 742-745 259 Diane Fahey ‘Andromache’ Friendly Street Poets http://www.friendlystreetpoets.org.au/fahey.htm 260 Her epithet is ‘Βρισηίδα καλλιπάρήνον ‘ (Briseis of the beautiful cheeks ) Iliad Bk 1 line 184

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He concludes his speech to the three ambassadors of Agamemnon by bitterly declaring

Are the sons of Atreus the only men who love their wives?

She is returned to Achilles after the formal reconciliation with Agamemnon. He does not apologise but says ‘I never forced her to serve my lust in bed or perform any other task.’261 Achilles takes her back as no more than his due. Briseis is genuine in her outpouring of sorrow for Patroklos and in her mourning, she is ‘like golden Aphrodite’.

It is, however, Thetis, the mother of Achilles who plays a pivotal role in the hero’s life. She always addresses him as ‘my lovingly begotten child’ (φιλον τέκνον) and she has raised him as ‘a tree in a rich orchard’.262 She mediates between him and the gods and pesters everyone she can, from Zeus to Hephaestus on her son’s behalf. Thetis, daughter of Poseidon, is obsessive about protecting Achilles. She persuades Zeus to agree to the conditions that the Greeks will not defeat Troy until Achilles is properly honoured. Hera says to Zeus

I have a terrible fear that she has won you over…Thetis with the glistening feet…you bowed your head in assent to her.263

Part e Aristeia When Hector strips the armour of Achilles from Patroklos’ body, Thetis orders new panoply for Achilles from Hephaestus, which includes the magnificent new shield discussed earlier. She also shows her concern for the excessive time spent on by Achilles on grief and urges him’ to eat, sleep, make love to a woman,’ to become ordinary again after ‘the black dog of grief’ over the death of Patroklos.264 It is Thetis who promises her son’s armour to the bravest of the Greeks, thereby starting the tragic contest between Odysseus and Ajax. She delivers the message from Zeus himself that Achilles is to release Hector’s body for burial. She well knows that as a mother of a hero she too will suffer his death in return for his everlasting glory. She knows that there will be no homecoming for her son

261 ‘Iliad ’Bk 24 lines 725-738 262 Iliad Bk 18 lines 65-66 263 ‘Iliad ’Bk 1 lines 668-671

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O the pain of being the mother of the best of men265

When he is told by Thetis that his own death will come soon after that of Hector, Achilles replies ‘Then let me die at once and not sit by the ships, a useless dead weight on the good green earth’.266

Achilles, then, is the paragon of aristocratic male society. He has beauty, courage, status and patrician manners. He has what Pindar calls ‘the splendour running in the blood’.267

When the epic begins, Achilles is imprisoned by his own godlike heroic fury from which everyone else is excluded, but it concludes with his humane albeit patrician treatment of King Priam and thus a return to his humanity. Achilles realises that gaining glory, no matter how luminous, is ultimately futile for

A man’s life breath cannot come back again once it slips through a man’s clenched teeth.268

Achilles almost relents so as to put aside his obsessive desire to regain the honour which has been taken from him when he learns that Diomedes, Odysseus and Agamemnon have been wounded and that Hector is burning the Greek ships drawn up on the beach. Yet, Achilles does not relent, saying that he would do so only when his own ships were being burnt and his own followers being slaughtered. It is for this reason that he allows Patroklos to don his armour and lead the battle hungry Myrmidons. Patroklos willingly goes forth to beat back the Trojan onslaught and thus to win glory for Achilles. In a telling passage, Achilles wishes that only he and Patroklos, whom he regards as an extension of himself, would topple the towers of Ilium.

O would to god…not one of these Trojans could flee his death, not one. so we could bring Troy’s hallowed crown of towers toppling down around us-you and I alone.269

264 Iliad Bk 24 lines 129-131 265 Iliad Bk 18 lines 54 ff 266 Iliad Bk 18 lines 96-104 267 Pindar Odes Volume II Loeb Classics Number 85 op.cit supra 268 Iliad Bk 9 lines 496-497.

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The Iliad begins by depicting a world gone awry in which fine men die before their time. There is discord, destruction and desecration. The death of three heroes dominates the conclusion of the epic, Patroklos kills Sarpedon, Hector kills Patroklos and Achilles kills Hector; the audience knows that Achilles himself does not have long to live. The links between these men is reinforced by Homer using almost exactly the same words to describe the deaths of both Patroklos and Hector. 270 Achilles in his hero’s role sees a world containing nothing but himself and his glory, yet the audience is constantly aware that the maim theme of the epic is the consequences of anger and vengeance, namely, young men die and old men mourn.

Matthew Clark271makes the apt comment that persuasion is a factor in the Iliad and the narrative shows what happens when it fails and then what happens when force fails. As has been mentioned earlier, Agamemnon wants immediate compensation; when Achilles fails to persuade him to wait, the quarrel erupts. As Cedric H. Whitman272 puts it so eloquently, ‘Achilles shows the conflict between personal integrity and social obligation. He choses the former even though he himself curses the ‘wrath’ which sets him apart from his fellows. He reacts from the mere acceptance of the creed of honour. He will have honour from Zeus and he will risk all for it in his belief that nobility is not a mutual exchange of vain compliments among men whose lives are as evanescent as leaves, but an organic part of the universe, independent of any social contact. As Achilles himself say ‘mortals are like leaves, for a time they flourish in a blaze of glory and feed upon the yield of the earth and then they fade, lifeless’273

‘The virtues of courage, justice, self-control are practised by the individual self- consciously and not as behaviour towards others’, states Clark. The motives for engaging in combat have already been mentioned by Sarpedon when he explains them to Glaucus, namely to validate the good opinions that others have of him and to win

269 Iliad Bk 16 lines 115-119. 270 Iliad Bk 16 lines 855ff and Bk 22 lines 361 ff. 271 Matthew Clark ‘Fighting words: How heroes argue’ Arethusa 35 (2002) 99-115 The Johns Hopkins University Press. 272 Cedric H. Whitman ‘Homer and the Homeric tradition’ op.cit supra. 273 Iliad Bk 21 line 462 ff. Virgil echoes this sentiment, one of many, in the ‘Aeneid’ Bk.6 lines 309-310 ‘as numerous as the withered leaves that fall in the woods with the first cold of autumn.’

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everlasting renown. It is what Peter Toohey274 calls ‘the heroic impulse’. This is socially sanctioned in all epics but some heroes, like Achilles, ‘misuse’ this impulse. Achilles acknowledges that the wrath separates him from others but nevertheless, he isolates himself further from his peers by his single-minded dedication to violence. He gleefully disrupts the peaceful settlements of his enemies by killing Trojan shepherds (Book 6). He is demented when he gloats after killing a number of Trojan youths on the field of battle .Iphition, Demoleon, Polydorous, Echeclus are just cut down and Achilles shows no mercy to the young Tros, ‘splitting open his liver’275 ; none of these fighters is anywhere near his ‘league’ in terms of age and prowess. It is not until the final Book of the epic that Achilles checks himself and admits that this force driven by ‘shame’ (over his part in the death of Patroklos) ‘does great harm or drives men to do good’276. Both Toohey and Whitman agree that it is in this concluding episode of the epic that Homer resolves the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles and presents them as models of ‘kingship’.

The conclusion of the Iliad is almost eerily tranquil with the portrayal of Priam and his herald asleep in the outer chamber of the pavilion of Achilles while Achilles himself lies at rest with Briseis of the white arms at his side. For a moment, in the world of slaughter, there is a small oasis of peace, albeit a short lived one. In this concluding Book, particularly from lines 366 following, it is Achilles who sets the standard of correct behaviour even though he had earlier in the epic been presented as the ‘intruder- warrior’, self-centred and fame-seeking. This motif of the ‘Intruder-Warrior’ is an essential element in the Iliad as it shows the ‘power transfer’ between the two heroes. All epics are concerned with the problem of kingship, the story of a king with a ‘flaw’. This theme also recurs in the transfer of power, from the suitors back to Odysseus; from Turnus to Aeneas; from Arthur to Lancelot. In a lesser way, a power shift is seen also in the Marlowe saga, for example Marlowe taking over responsibility from General Sternwood for the protection of his daughters.

274 Peter Toohey ‘What was an epic hero’ Antichthon 1990 Australian Society of Classical Studies, Melbourne. 275 Iliad Bk.20 line 530 ff 276 Iliad Bk. 24 line 44.

122

Simone Weil provides another reading for the Iliad.277

The true hero, the true subject, the centre of the Iliad is ‘force’ that is wielded by men, that rules them and before it man’s flesh cringes. The human soul never ceases to be transformed by its encounters with force. It is swept on, blinded by that which believes itself to be able to handle, bowed beneath the power of that which it suffers. Force is defined as that x that turns any body that is subject to it into a thing (emphasis in the original). It is the force that kills, that turns a person into a thing while still alive ,motionless waiting for the fatal stroke, it is the force that intoxicates, stops reflection, justice and prudence….It is the force that Achilles uses at the Scamander river, there, where someone stood a moment ago, stands no one.

There is also a reading of the Iliad by Socrates, facing the death sentence. He reminds the assembled Athenian citizens that he has stood his ground at Amphipolis and at other battles, as a soldier must. He then compares his situation with that of Achilles.

The son of Thetis despised danger in comparison to enduring disgrace. He (Achilles) made light of death and danger and feared much more to live as a coward and not to avenge the death of his friend. Straight away let me die after doing vengeance upon a wrongdoer that I may not stay here jeered at beside the hollow ships, a burden upon the earth.278

Thus, like the hero before him and like those who follow, Socrates encounters violence and force and dies as a solitary man loyal to the heroic ideal of honour.

277 Simone Weil (1909-1943) from ‘The Iliad or a poem of force’ a critical edition Ed. By James P. Holoka and translated by Peter Lang Oxford University Press (2005) 254 ‘Apologia’ of Socrates ‘Plato’ Loeb Classical Library Translated by H.N. Fowler 1982 ‘Apologia’ C; D passim. Socrates quotes the Iliad Bk 18 lines 96-98

123 CHAPTER III

FROM FUROR TO PIETAS, HOW THE CHIEFTAIN BECAME A STATESMAN

As for divine Homer, surely his honour and glory accrue simply from this, that he gave needful instruction in matters of battle orders, valorous deeds, arms and men.

Aristophanes Frogs. 405 BCE

According to Andrew Bernstein,1 the Platonic-Christian tradition in philosophy claims that the human being is in two parts, the body is in the ‘real’ world while the consciousness is in the spiritual realm. Thus, the ‘brute’ is ineffectual in this world and the intellectual is effective by being in the ‘next’ or other world. Jesus Christ is the moral expression of this view, a ‘lamb’ in this world but omnipotent in the next.2 Bernstein contends that heroism is actually a high-level abstraction, primarily a moral concept that requires a rational philosophical system which includes the principle of mind-body integration. He defines the hero as an individual of elevated moral stature and superior ability who pursues his goal indefatigably in the face of powerful antagonism. He is devoted to the ‘good’ and attains spiritual grandeur even if he fails to achieve his victory. The essence of rational morality is the ruthless dedication to reality, to the factual requirements of a man’s life.3 This involves ‘struggle’, an activity inherent in life, of strongly motivated striving that involves exertion. The requirements of man’s intimate needs are the product of his own efforts, often in the teeth of antagonistic forces, be they insentient, bestial, human or divine. This is epic hero territory, as he stands up to every threat directed against his values. Bernstein’s article is mostly about ‘real’ heroism, but all that he claims for flesh and blood heroes is applicable to the hero of fiction, particularly the Homeric hero and more specifically, Odysseus.

1 Andrew Bernstein ‘The Philosophical Foundation of Heroism’www.andrewbernstein.net 2 Jesus Christ as having all the characteristics of a ‘fictional’ hero is discussed in Chapter VII. 3 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as it applies to the hero is graphically represented in the Appendices.

124 Dominic Stefanson4 goes further. He sees Homeric man as a visceral being who seeks meaning in self-justification in the natural world. In contrast, Socratic man is cerebral, that is, one who has used reason to conquer the body’s passion. Thus, Stefanson claims, the duel offers a way in which passion can be displayed in a structured and controlled manner. This may well be the case with the highly stylised fencing or pistol duels of the 18th and 19th Centuries but it does not apply to Classical Age heroes, or indeed Arthurian ones. Where duels are fuelled by rage and by desire for vengeance, there is no structure or control and there are no holds barred in visiting violence onto one’s opponent. While the Homeric hero may be passionate in his reactions, he shows no inclination to control his emotions. He seeks truth in the senses, not in the intellect. For example, the dispute after the chariot race between Idomeneus and Locrian Ajax would have escalated had not Achilles leapt to his feet to intervene, urging the men to control themselves, which they do. 5

Homeric man, as has been noted earlier, is aristocratic, competitive both in battle and in argument, he is passionate about honour, status, rank and ancestral pedigree. While he respects the power of the gods, he strives to assert his own will. He is self-confident but knows that life is unpredictable and that death is never far away. The way a hero like Achilles displays grief has already been discussed, as has the audience’s response to this display, namely that to weep was not regarded as unmanly. Odysseus weeps for his dead comrades when he hears the bard Demodous sing of Troy at Alcinous’ feast, yet this is not regarded as unseemly, indeed Alcinous asks his guest to relate the events that have caused his grief. .

The most powerful expression of emotion by the hero is the spontaneous response to personal loss or of grief at the death of a comrade .In the Odyssey, the audience first encounters the hero on Calypso’s island, weeping and longing for his lost homeland. ‘Off he sat on a headland, weeping there as always, wrenching his heart out with sobs and

4 Dominic Stefanson ‘The duel as a reconciliation of Homeric and Socratic Values’ Paper presented at the Homer Conference Australian National University 2006. 5 ‘Iliad’ Bk 23 line 490

125 groans and anguish,’6 In another instance, Odysseus weeps in regret and anger at his impotence to save his companions from the maw of Polyphemus. Later, he sheds tears of joy at the expressions of gratitude after he has persuaded Circe to turn his companions from swine back into men. Tears accompany joy when he is reunited with Telemachus and both are ‘sobbing uncontrollably’ and when he reveals himself to the cowherd and the swineherd as their master and king.7 When Odysseus first meets Penelope while in disguise, he hides his tears even as he watches his grief-stricken wife, ‘under his lids his eyes remained still, they may have been of horn or iron’. Later when he has passed the test of the bed, ‘a deep desire for tears welled up in his breast and he wept as he held his wife.’8

Later Greek commentators on Homer took a different view to the open shedding of tears. Plato, in The Republic even suggested that references to extreme grief be removed from the poems so as not to provide a bad example for young men.9

In one of the plays of Euripides, both Agamemnon and Menelaus weep, but they agonize as to whether it is proper to do so. Athenian men of the 5th Century BCE appear to be concerned that an open show of grief may be regarded as effeminate and in all the tragedies of that period, it is the women who wail and rend their garments and their flesh. Solon, writing in 580 BCE, states that ‘true masculinity is that real men serve others’ and that rational minds are superior to those of women and the inferior.

It needs to be kept in mind that the world of epic heroes is fantasy. In the Morte, for example knights always faint at the sight of a dead comrade. How much this sort of reaction is based on each author’s own world is a matter for conjecture.

6 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 5 lines 95-98. 7 ‘Odyssey’ bks.10 lines 408-420; 16 lines 213-220; 21 lines 205-208 8 ‘Odyssey’ Bk19 lines 209-211 and Bk23 lines 205-207. 9 Plato ‘Republic’ 388 A4-D7, Loeb Classics 1989

126 The frequency of weeping and voluble displays of grief in epics is indicative that at least to the audiences of antiquity and those of the Morte these expressions were regarded as acceptable.

The weeping has to stop so that the action can continue, but this activity is never referred to as unmanly, even though it is acknowledged that it serves no practical purpose.10 Some ‘tough guys’ don’t shed any tears at all; Neoptolemus is dry-eyed as he crouches in the wooden horse while all the other warriors are shaking with fear and wiping away tears: ‘he never flicked a tear form his cheek’ Odysseus tells the shade of Achilles.11

Homer was regarded by his audience as the ultimate teacher of what it meant to be an Achaean, an Argive, a Greek. His listeners were flattered to hear of these great deeds and that they were the descendants of these godlike men, separated from them by only a few generations. The works of Homer, E.V.Rieu attests, ‘constitute the first expression of the Western mind in literary form.’12 Achilles is the model of the uncompromising man, one who follows the dictates of his will regardless of consequences. Odysseus, on he other hand, is quick-witted, adaptable, realistic, a survivor. The description of a good commander, as seen by the 3rd Century BCE Greek soldier and poet Archilocus, could apply to Odysseus,

I do not like the commander, tall-standing, legs apart, whose cut of hair and beard are his main claims to fame. Give me the little chap, with bigness in his heart and his legs can be bandy, as long as they don’t let him down.13

Before deciding whether Odysseus is a different hero from the Homeric mould a set by Achilles or whether he is merely a variant of this hero, it is worthwhile to focus on the characterization of Odysseus as it is presented to the audience.

10 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 24 line 524. 11 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 11 526-528. 12 E.V.Rieu ‘Odyssey’ Introduction, Folio Society, London 1995 page i. 13 Martin West ed. ‘Greek Lyrical Poetry’ World’s Classics, Oxford University Press 1993.

127 Odysseus is the most famous veteran in literature and one of his characteristics is the sense of dislocation felt by all men who return home from a campaign. The Iliad and other epics contain many examples of parades to honour the dead soldiers but it is more difficult to honour the ones who have returned: the homecoming of Odysseus underlines this very point. What his nostos does celebrate is the fact that Odysseus, in spite of all his tribulations, has survived.

Unlike Achilles, Odysseus is physically unattractive: he looks good sitting down, as he is short in stature; he looks like a fool until he speaks.14 He is vigorous and has a prodigious appetite, even eating three dinners on one day! His name signifies ‘the angry one,15 he is the grandson of Arcesius, son of Laertes and of Anticleia. His other grandfather who names him is Autolycus, a renowned thief and liar, whose name means Lone Wolf.16 Odysseus is married to Penelope and they have one son, Telemachus, whose name means ‘he who fights from a distance’.17 Later tradition has Odysseus fathering sons both with Circe and with Calypso. According to Italian tradition, with Circe he fathered Remus, Antius and Ardes, mythical ancient heroes of Latium.

He is first a farmer, and there are several references to his childhood being on the farm with his father18 and of his appreciation of the peaceful life of a farmer. While a boy, he visits his maternal grandfather’s farm and is gored by a wild boar. This leaves a scar on his leg and it is by means of this that Odysseus is recognized by his former wet-nurse Eurycleia when he returns to Ithaca disguised as a beggar.

There are numerous references to his courage, knowledge of navigation, his eloquence and his skill as a negotiator as he speaks with ‘honeyed words’. Antenor describes his

14 ‘Odyssey’ Bk 5 lines 155 ff. 15 From the verb οδυυσσασθαι (odyssathai) to be aggrieved or angered or just trouble.Odysseus is both the recipient and the cause. 16 George E. Dimock ‘The Name of Odysseus’s The Hudson Review 9.1 Spring 1956 pages 52-70. 17 ‘Odyssey’ Bks. 19, line 406; 1 line 329; 11 line 85; 15 line362; 16 line118. 18 ‘Odyssey’ Bk 24 lines 335-344 and 18 lines 365-379.

128 eloquence as ‘words drifting down like a winter snow.’19 Laertes sends his son to Messene to demand reparation. It is there that Odysseus meets Iphitus who is looking for his stolen horses and who gives Odysseus ‘the polished bow’ he will later use to slaughter the suitors like beasts on a hunt.20

I know well how to handle the polished bow and first I would shoot and hit my man among the throng of hostile men, even though my companions stood right beside and were shooting at men with bows. Philoctetes alone surpassed me with the bow in the land of the Trojans, when we Achaeans shot with it. But of the others, I say that I am the best by far, of all the mortals that are now upon the earth and eat bread. Yet with earlier men I will not seek to contend, with Heracles or with Eurytus of Oechalia, who used to strive even with the immortal gods.21

Without any false modesty, Odysseus here speaks of his prowess and his self-control in the heat of battle. He also acknowledges the superior skill of the greatest of the Greek archers and of those heroes of the past.

From Apollodorus (Book iii line 10) and also from Pausanias, audiences learnt that Odysseus went to Sparta as one of the suitors of Helen. He persuaded her father Tyndareus to make the suitors swear an oath that they would support the chosen bridegroom against any insult that he received on account of Helen. To show his gratidude for this advice, Tyndareus gave to Odysseus as a bride his niece Penelope. Some early accounts have Odysseus win Penelope in a footrace. Homer says nothing of Odysseus’s courtship. He states that Agamemnon visited Odysseus in Ithaca and prevailed upon him, with great difficulties, to honour his oath and sail for Troy.22 The dramatist Aeschylus, in the Agamemnon shows that Odysseus, once committed, he stays the course, ‘There was not one of my friends except Odysseus, the most loath to sail, that

19 ‘Iliad’ Bk 3 line222, perhaps the origin of the American expression ‘a snow job’! 20 ‘Odyssey’ Bk 21 lines14 ff. 21 ‘Odyssey’ Bk 8 lines 215-225. 22 ‘Odyssey’ Bk 24 lines 116 ff.

129 like a horse of mettle pulled his weight.’23 The best-known account has Palamedes tricking Odysseus who is feigning madness to avoid going to war by ploughing the beach with an ass and an ox. Palamedes places the infant Telemachus in the path of the plough and Odysseus stops his pretence to save his son. Naturally enough, this leads to Odysseus hatred for Palamedes. Apollodorus also relates how Odysseus unmasked Achilles24 These details of Odysseus’s background provided by non-Homeric sources are relevant as they show how the personality of this hero is interpreted by different tellers of his story; it soon becomes obvious that he is presented as a hero, and a rather unconventional one at that, only in his own epic. As it has been foreshadowed earlier, everywhere else he appears in stories, he displays characteristics which may be admired and even envied but which are not regarded as desirable.

It is because of his deviousness that Odysseus is frequently referred to as πολυμέτις (polymetis) a man of many wiles. He is also labelled πολυμέχανος (polymechanos) and πολυτροπος (polytropos) many tricks and skills. However, the most often used epithets are πολυαιδος (polyaidos)25 much praised and πολυτλας (polytlas) much enduring.

The audience learns early in the Iliad26that Agamemnon has chosen Odysseus to be part of the embassy sent to Troy to seek an amicable restoration of Helen. He joined the fleet at Aulis and though he has only twelve ships he has great influence in Councils.27

Odysseus is frequently praised by his peers for being a brave fighter as well as for being cunning, and prudent, even to the point of discretion being the better part of valour. When Diomedes is trying to rescue Nestor from Hector’s onslaught, he calls for help from Odysseus; however, Odysseus turns his chariot around and heads for the beached ships, ignoring Diomedes’ call of cowardice. He is never one to throw his life away in futile

23 Aeschylus ‘Agamemnon’ act I lines 955-956. op.cit. supra 24 Apollodorus ‘Chronicle’ (circa 150 BCE) chapter iii line 13 ff. See also supra Chapter II. 25 Often, for reasons of scansion, the adjective διος (dios) godly, is added. 26 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 3 lines 205 ff. 27 In the ‘Iliad’, it is revealed in the Catalogue of Ships that the Greeks had 46 Captains commanding 1200 ships with a total of some 140,000 men. ‘Oxford Companion to Classical Literature’. op.cit.

130 heroics. Yet, Diomedes volunteers to team up with Odysseus to spy behind enemy lines28 and acknowledges that ‘Odysseus’s mind is the best at subterfuge’.

They return with a booty of captured horses; Odysseus praises Diomedes’ efforts but says little about his own part in the expedition in rounding up the horses while Diomedes killed the grooms and Dolon the wealthy Trojan.29

Odysseus is entrusted to return Chryseis to the Trojan lines, and he shows his commanding personality during the events which follow. He literally takes control from Agamemnon; he holds the king of men’s sceptre and uses it to discipline brutally the rabble-rouser Thersites. When order has been restored within the army, Odysseus is praised for this act by ‘the multitude’ of soldiers:

Odysseus has done excellent deeds by the thousands, bringing forward good counsel and commanding armed encounters, but now this by far is the best thing he has accomplished among the Argives.30

His most notorious achievement, however, is the stratagem of the wooden horse. He regales those at Alcinous’ feast with how he hid in the horse and how he and Menelaus were the first to spring from its belly and how he slew Deiphobus after a fearful struggle, Odysseus looking like ‘Ares himself’.31In Book II of the Aeneid, devoted entirely to the sack of Troy, Virgil tells of how Odysseus stole the Palladium and how he incurred the enmity of Poseidon by his sacrilege.

He is well remembered by his comrades-in–arms. It is important for the young Telemachus who does not know his father, to realize that Odysseus is esteemed even by the renowned Nestor. The old man, who has a reputation for being a tough campaigner

28 ‘Iliad’ Bk10 lines 246-247 29 This episodes underlines for the audience that even great wealth cannot save one from death 30 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 2 lines 273-275 31 ‘Odyssey Bk4 lines 280 ff: Bk. 7 lines 494 ff; Bk 11 lines 525 ff; Bk 8 lines 517 ff.

131 himself32tells Telemachus that Odysseus was ‘a hard man, subtle in thought, insatiable in trickery’ and of how he remembers Odysseus ‘ranging the ranks of fighters like a ram, a man quick with every trick under the sun, a man of twists and turns.’33

Odysseus is confident in his own prowess, reminding the audience on several occasions that ‘my strength is unbroken.’ He shows no false modesty (not a quality highly regarded by Homeric Greeks), ‘no man can compete with me in manual skills’34 He knows how to lay a fire, roast and serve meats, pour wine. He has a practised eye for a good orchard and marvels at that owned by Alcinous, describing it in detail, ‘the pomegranates, apples, pears, sweet figs, luxuriant olives.’35

Throughout the epic, Odysseus continually prefers to use the strategy of metis, cunning over that preferred by Achilles of bie force. This tactic is based on deferral and even on risking public disgrace as a manoeuvre for winning without recourse to force. Only once does Odysseus echo Achilles in decrying the use of falsehoods, ‘For as I detest .the doorway of death, so do I detest the man who under constraint of poverty, babbles beguiling falsehood.’36

By the time Odysseus prepares for his showdown with the Suitors, the audience knows that they have no chance as he is superior to them in every way, he is like a lion ready to kill a rival’s cubs.

The Odyssey in its middle section becomes something of a science fiction novel as it contains a number of fantastical adventures that befall Odysseus. All these are related as ‘flash-back’ to Alcinous and his guests. They do not contribute a great deal to his heroic status and Odysseus relies on some quite unheroic qualities of cunning and deception and subterfuge to escape with his life and then only barely as he washes up on the sea shore

32 His name means one who comes home. In every way, he is a survivor. 33 ‘Odyssey’ Bk.3 lines 103 ff and lines 233-235. 34 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 15 lines 321-323. 35 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 7 lines 112-121. ‘Paradise’ (παραδείσος) paradeisos is Greek for a ‘walled garden.’ from a Persian word. 36 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 14 lines 156-157. Cf. ‘Iliad’ Bk. 9 lines312-313.

132 of Phaecia, naked and nearly dead. It is how he recovers form this parlous position and regains his realm that re establishes Odysseus as a true epic hero.

However, it is worthwhile to catalogue, in Homeric fashion, Odysseus’s travails. Each adventure reveals some aspect of his particular heroic personality, whether he is driven by curiosity, or uses guile, or subterfuge. None of the adventures connected with his travels require him to use his skills as a warrior that he displayed in the Iliad. Impelled by curiosity, he visits the island of the Cyclops and tangles with Polyphemus, blinds him and steals his flock, but loses six men in the process, devoured by the monster .He visits the home of the lotus eaters and barely escapes their drug-enduced torpor. Sicily proves disastrous. There he encounters the Laestrygonians, giants and cannibals who wreak havoc among his men. In another part of the Island, he receives a bag of wind from Aeolus to help speed him home. His men, believing the bag to be full of treasure which Odysseus is not sharing with them, open the bag and the unleashed winds destroy all but one of his ships. An encounter with Circe follows and his men are turned into swine. Eventually Odysseus leaves Circe and travels to the Underworld. There he meets his mother who tells him that she has died not from disease but from longing, άγανοφροσίνη (aganophrosine) for him . In Hades he also encounters Achilles, is ignored by Ajax with whom he had contended for the armour of Achilles37 and is shown a pageant of famous women (most of whom had been lovers of Zeus).

Tied to the mast of his ship, Odysseus hears the Song of the Sirens while his men row on, their ears blocked with wax. He navigates the whirlpool Charybdis but the monster Scylla devours six of his companions. Finally, the exhausted crew reaches the island of Helios and the starving men commit sacrilege and slay the Oxen of the Sun. The one remaining ship and all its crew is destroyed and only Odysseus survives, arriving half

37 Achilles is mentioned only twice in the ‘Odyssey’, in Hades and in Bk 24 where his funeral is described by the spirit of Agamemnon. The struggle for the armour is described in ‘Odyssey’ Bk 11 lines 545 ff. In the ‘Iliad’ Odysseus uses cunning to cheat Ajax in a wrestling match, winning a three legged cauldron worth a dozen oxen, while Ajax’s prize is ‘a woman thoroughly trained in domestic work, worth four oxen’.

133 drowned on the Island of Ogygia, the home of the enchantress Calypso.38 It is this quality of survival that marks Odysseus as a variation on the Homeric hero of the Iliad.

Calypso promises immortality to Odysseus but he longs for his home, esteeming it above the embraces of a goddess. Athena, his advocate with the gods, persuades Zeus that Odysseus has endured much and that after eight years with Calypso he should be allowed to begin his homeward journey.

The first appearance of Odysseus is in Book 5 when he builds a raft that will take him across the wine dark sea to Ithaca. A storm created by the implacable Poseidon, plunges the hero once again into the sea and after swimming for nine days, in true superhero fashion, Odysseus is washed ashore at Phaecia, to be found by Nausicaa. After seven books dealing with fantastical adventures, the epic then returns to the real purpose of Odysseus’s struggle, the nostos, the regaining of all that is dear to him and thereby the bringing of benefits to his family and people.

Once landed on Ithaca, Odysseus puts on the heroic mantle once more. Athena disguises him as a beggar and as such Odysseus begins his struggle for his birthright. The ‘beggar’ meets the swineherd Eumaeus who speaks of his enduring loyalty to Odysseus. The audience also learns of the misfortunes of Eumaeus, a prince taken by slavers and condemned to a live of wretched servitude. As will be seen later, Greek attitude to slaves was simple, they were human booty, it was terrible to be one but good to own one. Eumaeus reminds his master that ‘Zeus takes away half a man’s worth when the day of enslavement comes upon him’39

There are numerous events in the Great Hall in Ithaca which are perhaps among the best- known parts of the Odyssey. The recognition by Eurycleia of the child she suckled when she washes the stranger’s limbs and notices the scar on Odysseus’s leg is portrayed in an affecting fashion. It is however the description of the old hunting dog Argus, recognizing

38 Her name has the connotation of ‘the engulfer’. 39 ‘Odyssey’ Bk.17 line 322-323.

134 his long-lost master, immortalized by Alexander Pope’s translation, that is particularly touching. The dog is lying neglected on a dung heap, ‘obscene with reptiles’40 but when he sees Odysseus, he wags his tail, moves his nose down and wiggles his ears although he ‘lacks the power to drag himself’ to his master. Odysseus wipes away ‘salt tears’ as Argus dies.

Odysseus must endure41 public humiliation several times all at the urging of the suitors; he has a stool thrown at him twice, once a cow’s foot and he is shown disrespect by a serving slave girl and by the goatherd Melanthius. Furthermore, he is even made to box with the obese bully layabout Irus42 whom he fells with a single blow.

Odysseus as an avenging god, wins the contest of the bow, set by Penelope. He strings his weapon and shoots an arrow through the twelve rings on the handle of each, used for hanging the double-headed axe on a hook when not in use. The next arrow is through the neck of the chief suitor and tormentor, Antinous. A bloodbath follows. Odysseus, Telemachus and Eumaeus slaughter all the suitors with arrows and with spears. Only the bard Phemios and the herald Medon are spared. The slaying of Melanthius is as pitiless as it is brutal: Odysseus cuts off his ears, nose, hands, feet and genitals. The Hall is then purified by burning sulphur.

Odysseus is reunited with Laertes, who rejoices in seeing his son and grandson fighting together against the relatives of the suitors who are seeking vengeance. It is Laertes himself who kills Euphites, the father of Alcinous, and it is Athena who brokers a peace between the warring side and thus concludes the return home of Odysseus.

For a substantial portion of this epic, Odysseus is not engaged in combat, relying instead on endurance and guile. He lies freely and trusts no one, including his companions. While preparing to blind the Cyclops, for example, Odysseus fears that his companions may

40 Pope’s translation of the ’Iliad’. Op.cit supra 41 The epithet πολυτλας (polytlas) much enduring is frequently used through out this epic, from the word αθλυος (athlios) struggle, toil, with the implication of wretchedness, much like the use by Virgil of labor and certamen when applied to Aeneas. It is also associated with the word ‘athlete’ 42 So named because he ran any errand, a ‘Gofer’.

135 leave him in the lurch and so he holds the top of the burning stake while the men are at the bottom, near the tip. It is the sacrilege of his companions that causes him to be reduced to a naked castaway, yet from this position he sets out to regain his homeland. The real conclusion of the epic is not the reunion with Penelope, but that with Telemachus and with the destruction of the enemies of his house which leads to the restoration of peace to Ithaca.43

The choice that Odysseus makes shows him to be a variation of the hero portrayed in the Iliad. Achilles choses to kill Hector rather than to leave Patroklos unavenged. Hector choses honour over life when he choses to remain alone outside the walls to challenge Achilles. Sarpedon tells Glaucus that for a warrior, the choice is ‘to go forward, either to give glory other men, or they to us.’44

The Iliadic hero is ever ready to meet death. Margalit Finkelberg is correct in stating that the Odyssey shows a different version of the hero, one who choses to live his own life of toil and suffering in preference to immortality with Calypso on an island so magnificent that when Hermes, the messenger of the gods, arrives there, ‘even an immortal might gaze and marvel and delight his soul’45

Odysseus on his return to Ithaca displays all of the heroic qualities enumerated by the 5th Century BCE philosopher Antisthenes, and repeated later by both Cynics and Stoics: self- restraint, endurance of hardship, disregard for indignities and humiliation, readiness to serve the common good.46

43 It is worth noting the symmetry of the parallel conclusions to the two Homeric epics Book22-climax; Hector is killed; the suitors are killed. Book23-peaceful interlude; the funeral games; Odysseus recognized by Penelope Book 24 resolution; Achilles obeys the gods; Odysseus reinstated by the gods. Also the ’Iliad’ ends at the 10th year of the War; the ’Odyssey’ begins in the 10th year of Odysseus’s absence. 44 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 12 lines 322-328. 45 ‘Odyssey’ Bk.5 line75 ff. 46 U.B. Stanford ‘The ‘Ulysses’ theme’ Spring Publication, 1992. Dallas

136 The seer Tiresias prophesized for Odysseus what Gregory Nagy47 calls ‘an unheroic death’. For Nagy, a hero is ‘one who prizes honour and glory above life itself and dies on the battlefield in the prime of life’. This definition would regard as heroes only Achilles, Hector and possibly Arthur and exclude Odysseus, Aeneas, Lancelot and Philip Marlowe. As mentioned earlier, a hero has to be prepared to die on the field of battle, but he does not necessarily have to do so in order to be worthy of honour.

As for Odysseus, ‘from the sea your death will come. The gentlest death that is possible, which shall see you in smooth old age and your people will live happily around you.’48 This, however, will occur only after one more act of endurance. Odysseus must journey with his oar on his shoulder to ‘a country of men who do not know the sea nor eat meat flavoured with salt’ and there like Elpenor, ‘set up his oar that he swung mid fellows’.49

There are three additional themes in the Odyssey which are particularly useful in illuminating the nature of the hero in general and of Odysseus in particular; feasts, women and the transformation through time of Odysseus, the only hero to be given a ‘makeover’ by succeeding generations.

First, the one activity which is central to any epic is the feast. Unlike Malory, whose descriptions of feasting are ‘generic’ and who leaves it to the imagination or experience of his audience to create the required ambiance of such an occasion, Homer provides great detail of the feasts attended by his heroes.

The one at Alcinous’ palace50 is ‘to give this stranger (Odysseus) a hero’s welcome’. It begins with the blind bard Demodocus ‘singing of the famous deeds of fighting heroes.’ The bard ‘charms men’s ears, they drink their wine in silence as they listen’. In Homer a

47 Gregory Nagy’ The best of the Achaeans’ (.First published in 1979) Johns Hopkins University Press 1998 pages 7 ff. passim 48 ‘Odyssey’ Bk.11 lines 134-137. 49 Ezra Pound ‘Cantos’ (1925) Canto I, devoted entirely to Odysseus and his visit to the Underworld. In Canto CVI Pound challenges the reader,’ I shall have to learn a little Greek to keep up with this but so will you, drratt you!’ού θελε έην είς κόσμον they want to burst out of the universe.’ 50 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 8 passim

137 bard always speaks ‘with winged words’, a phrase repeated over one hundred times51The bard accompanies himself either on the κυθαρα (kithara), a stringed instrument with a sound box, usually a tortoise hell, or with a multi-stringed lyre, φορμιν phormin.

The feast is lovingly described in a lavish manner as it depicts for the audience the ambiance worthy of mighty heroes for celebrating great deeds before an appreciative group.52Foley underlines this point by stating that heroic feasts showed that all was in order and appropriate while the formulaic description reinforces the thematic structure of epic poetry at the same time that it reaffirms the desirable order that a hero’s presence brings to a gathering. The unvaried sequence is as follows; a) the maidservants bring water b) a table is placed before the diners c) bread and other foods are placed in abundance on the table d) the host (or the hero) carves the meat and golden cups are filled to the brim e) the diners eat ‘until they had put aside their desire for eating and drinking’. The bard’s song recounts heroic deeds (κατα κοσμον) kata cosmon, as it is in order, that is, truthfully.

Food is distributed κατα μοιραν (kata moiran) according to share, in a correct manner. Odysseus does this precisely and Homer tells the audience ‘how he carves off a portion from the thigh of a white–tusked boar….with plenty of rich fat on both sides….with kindly wishes from my unhappy self. No one on earth can but honour and respect the bards’, and he offers the choice cut to Demodocus.

Cedric Whitman reminds us that it was Homer that invented the technique of the omniscient narrator who can recall everything for all of his characters because he is assisted by the Muse, who is invoked in the opening of any epic. The bard, whose skill is

51 Επεα πτερόεντα προσηυδα epea pteroenta proseida. There are some 25.000 repeated stock phrases, dawn is always rosy-fingered, horses are fair-maned, the sea is wine-dark, wine is either ruby-red or gleaming ships are dark-prowed. 52 J.D. Foley ‘Feasts and Antifeasts in Oral Traditional Literature.’ John Miles Foley ed. 1987 Slavica Press

138 a gift from the gods, gives the heroes a voice, though he has none himself53. His view echoes that of Hesiod who claims, ’A god breathed in me a divine voice to sing of the blessed gods that are eternally’.54

As he listens to the bard sing of the wooden horse55, Odysseus buries his face in his cloak out of politeness to his host, ‘I should not sit in another man’s house lamenting’56. When he notices this, Alcinous considerately moves the feast out-of-doors for a series of contests57. The festivities conclude with rhythmic movements performed by ‘boys in the flush of youth, skilled dancers who stamped the ground with marvellous steps….throwing a ball to each while dancing.’58

Just as for the description of feasts, popular recurring themes such as an army moving into combat position are also described in a predictable, formulaic sequence, much like mocking up a familiar ‘stock’ scene on a ‘story board’ in modern film production. a) the council of war is held b) the sacrifice meal is eaten c) the army parades in full battle order d) there is a harangue to stimulate χαρμε kharme lust for battle.59 e) the charge f) a series of slayings of warriors on both sides g) the slayings by the hero, in ‘close-up’ h) the rally after the battle, the spoils.

53 Cedric Whitman ‘Homer and the heroic Tradition’. Cambridge and Massachusetts, Oxford University Press 1958. 54 Hesiod (circa 700 BCE) ‘Theogony’ (the genealogy of the gods) 22.33 Loeb Classics. 55 It would not be possible at any one sitting to perform any epic in its entirety (it would take some 20 hours as has been noted), this episode is clearly a favourite passage. 56 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 19 lines 118-122. 57 See Chapter VII on sport for Odysseus’s heroic efforts in these events. 58 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 8 line 300 on. This sort of exercise had a martial aspect to it; the Spartans used movement to music to increase cohesion in close order combat. 59 See also the speech by Colonel Collins to the Royal Irish quoted in full in the Appendices.

139 The second important theme is the treatment given in epic to women. How women fared in the Iliad has already been discussed. In the Odyssey, the audience becomes more aware of the rôle played by enchantresses in the lives of heroes.

In Homeric society, all mature women were married. Just as the most pressing duty of men was the protection of their community, that of women was the production of future warriors. From a present day standpoint, one agrees with Sarah Pomeroy that the rationalized confinement of women to the domestic sphere as well as the systematization of anti-female thoughts by the poets and the philosophers are two of the most devastating creations of the classical legacy.60

Yet, compared with the portrayal of women in subsequent Greek literature, epic wives give a generally positive impression of the life of women connected with heroes. They are expected to be modest, their virtues are chastity and fidelity and even submission, but they are not kept secluded. Andromache and Helen walk freely trough the city, albeit with escorts as befits their rank. Andromache even makes some suggestions to Hector for drawing up a group of warriors near a fig tree where the city wall is weakest. Hector quite politely thanks her but reminds her that her work is to supervise the household.61

Women are depicted on the shield of Achilles as defending the city wall from attackers but this is a sign of desperation rather than a general occurrence. The wives of heroes generally remain in public rooms, as Penelope does, weaving. However, she also has a flock of geese which she tends personally.62

Penelope is labelled by Moses Finlay63 ‘as the moral heroine for later generations’. Her epithet is περιφρων (periphroon) ‘composed’ or ‘wary’. As the embodiment of goodness and chastity, she is often contrasted with the faithless and murdering Clytemnestra.

60Sarah Pomeroy ‘Ancient Greece, a political, social and cultural history’ Oxford University Press 1998. page 230. 61 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 6 lines 490-493. 62 Her name suggests the word for ‘duckling’. 63 Moses Finlay ‘The world of Odysseus’s page 32 op.cit supra.

140 Her pedigree is important as it shows that she is a worthy mate for a hero and that by her actions she is the rôle model for female loyalty and devotion.

Penelope’s father was King Icarius of Thestios in Aetolia and her mother was a sea nymph (Naiad) Periboea. Penelope resists all attempts to have her wed again and give up for lost Odysseus who has been absent for twenty years, a good decade after the end of the war with Troy. She is being urged by her father and brothers to marry Euymachus ‘who outdoes all other suitors in gifts and he has greatly increased his gifts of wooing.’64 She uses guile to survive during her husband’s absence by avoiding all confrontations with her family and with the suitors. She realizes that without a man to safeguard her she is powerless: Odysseus’s father is old and has been keeping to his farm away from the palace. Her mother-in-law is dead, her relatives are in a distant land and her son is too young to fight for her. Penelope is the type of ‘widow’ envisaged by Andromache, a woman without a protector. Andromache describes a bleak future for a fatherless son. With the death of a father and without a close male relative as a surrogate, it would mean that the son would lose the support of his father’s friends, his share at men’s banquets and even the lands he would otherwise have inherited.

Penelope manages the suitors with great skill and duplicity. First, she devises the trick of weaving her father-in-law’s winding sheet by day and unpicking it at night. She then tricks the suitors into allowing the disguised Odysseus to get his hands on the bow. She does this by issuing a challenge that she will marry whoever will string the great bow and shoot an arrow through the rings on the base of the axe-handles. Odysseus thus regains his kingdom with the help of his wife, as well as with the might of his son and two loyal retainers.

The imagery used to describe Penelope’s pleasure at recognizing Odysseus in spite of the changes wrought by the passage of two decades of hard living is as charming as it is revealing. She has ‘as much pleasure as shipwrecked sailors have at the sight of land as they swim towards shore’ .This is one of many examples of Homer’s use of the ‘reverse’

64 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 15 lines 16-18. and later Bk. 16 lines 391-392.

141 simile, an experience unknown to Penelope but well known to her oft shipwrecked husband.

It is not after successfully passing the ‘test of the bed’ that Odysseus and Penelope finally spend the entire night in each other’s arms. Penelope is not just a passive recipient of the actions of others. She is an active participant in helping her husband win back his home and his kingdom.

Another virtuous woman, albeit a very young one is Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous. When she is first introduced, she stands her ground facing the wild–looking Odysseus ‘caked with salt and with burning eyes ’emerging naked from the bushes near to where she and her maids had been washing clothes and playing ball while waiting for them to dry. When he finally speaks to her, Odysseus politely expresses the wish that she may find a husband and enjoy a harmonious marriage,

and may the gods give you all your heart’s desire, husband, a house and lasting harmony too. No finer, greater gift in the world than that, when a man and a woman possess their home, two minds, two hearts working as one. It is despair to their enemies, rejoicing to their friends.65

She is an example of a young woman who knows her mind, wants to make a worthy match and uses her charm to get her own way. She begins a request for a mule cart to take on an outing to the beach with the words, ‘Daddy, dear’ adding that she personally wants to wash his clothes so that they will be spotless when he wears them when he sits in council. In reply, Alcinous says ‘I won’t deny you the mules, my darling girl, I won’t deny you anything.’66 As he takes his leave, Odysseus says that he will always remember Nausicaa as ‘you saved my life, dear girl.’67

65 The word used is όμοφροσυνη (homophrosyne) the same feeling. ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 6 lines 198-206. 66 ‘Odyssey’ Book 6 lines 60-75. 67 ‘Odyssey’ Book 8 line528.

142 Robert Graves has a different view of Odysseus’s interaction with Nausicaa68who is ‘wonderstruck’ by this handsome stranger,

His wiles were witty and his fame far known Every king’s daughter sought him for her own, Yet he was nothing to be won or lost. All lands to him were Ithaca: love tossed He loathed the fraud but would not bed alone.

Odysseus is not solely beloved by mortal women, but by the goddess Athena also; the phrase ‘Athena loves this man’ is often repeated, at times spoken with some tone of disbelief, as ‘how could she?’ The connexion between the two is an enduring one. He is chosen by the goddess to persuade Agamemnon to stay and destroy Troy instead of returning home.69 She disguises herself as a herald and calls for silence from the Army so that ‘it may hear his words and hearken to his good counsel.’

Athena saves Odysseus from death after he has been stabbed by Socus, ‘not permitting the spear to pierce the bowels of the warrior.’ Odysseus in return spears Socus between the shoulder blades and gloats over his dying body. The spear is then wrenched from Socus’ flesh and ‘when it was drawn out the blood gushed forth and distressed his spirit.’70 Athena also helps Odysseus build the wooden horse, yet he still mistrust her, lying to her when she does not see through his disguise while on Ithaca.

With the enchantress Calypso71, Odysseus tarries on her island home of Ogygia, albeit reluctantly, for seven years. The island is so marvellous in its luxury that Hermes, the messenger of the gods, is awe struck when he reaches the island, ’Even a god who found this place would gaze and feel his heart beat with delight.’72Yet the eyes of Odysseus are

68 Robert Graves ‘Ulysses’. Complete text www2.bc.edu/~duket/graves_ulysses.htm 69 ‘Iliad’ Bk.2 line 260 on. 70 ‘Iliad’ Bk.9 lines 440-449 71 Her name is derived from the word to cover up καλυπτω (kalypto) derived from εκαλυψε (ekalypse) to conceal, hence eclipse. 72 ‘Odyssey’ Bk.5 lines 165-170.

143 wet with weeping, shedding tears for his lost home. At night ‘he slept with her like a cold lover with a burning woman’ but obviously not every night. Homer also notes, perhaps in merely a formulaic phrase, that sometimes ‘long in each other’s arms, they lost themselves in love’73 Calypso also reminds Odysseus that she is as good in face and figure as Penelope, in an attempt to have him stay with her of his own free will. But he longs to leave and eventually, at Athena’s urgings, the gods relent and instruct Calypso via Hermes to release Odysseus and to provide him with materials for a raft.

In Homeric epics, sex is for men to take, an attitude which is seen as morally neutral. The bard Demodocus recites the tale of the adultery of Aphrodite with the war god Ares. Her cuckold husband Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods catches the couple in flagrante delicto and snares them in a net. The male gods laugh loudly at this (and no doubt the male audience of the bard) while the female goddesses remain modestly at home.

An extra measure of prestige accrued to a warrior who possessed a slave woman of high status. The women of Troy are allocated to Greek heroes, Andromache is given to Neoptolemus. The wet nurse of Odysseus’s Eurycleia, was a trophy won in battle by Laertes and though he desired her, he did not take advantage of the situation and thus ‘avoided his wife’s anger’.

The twelve serving women who have given themselves to the suitors are punished for their lack of loyalty with implacable savagery. Odysseus tells Telemachus to slit their throats, but in reply, Telemachus says that ‘they have heaped dishonour on my head and on my mother.’ With that, Telemachus himself strings up the women in turn ‘like doves on a string or long-winged thrushes in a net’; not a quick and bloody death for them, but the shameful one of hanging. ‘For a little while their feet kicked about, but not for long.’74

73 ‘Odyssey’ Bk. 5 line 230-232. 74 ‘Odyssey’ Bk.22 lines 490-500.

144 The third theme worth examining, after feasts and the actions of women, is one that makes Odysseus virtually unique among epic heroes, the transformations that he has undergone at the hands of succeeding generations. Aeneas, as will be seen in the following chapter, has had his character given fresh interpretations by subsequent writers. Arthur has also been changed from the mediaeval Warrior-King to a moral Christian monarch by the late Victorian era and he has even been the subject of parody in modern times. However, it is only Odysseus who has been converted into a virtual villain, albeit one of epic proportions, in his later incarnations. Before examining the metamorphosis from agathos to kakos, good to bad of Odysseus it is worthwhile reviewing the nature and purpose of this particular epic, the Odyssey.

The Greek epic that originated in the late Mycenaean period outlasted the downfall of the typically heroic age culture(circa 1100BCE) and maintained itself through the so called Dark Age to reach a climax in the Homeric poems of circa 700BCE75

Thereafter, the activity of the ‘maker’ αοιδος (aoidos) 76declined, though such poets as Hesiod produced new works which along with some earlier poems, became known as the Epic Cycle. Hesiod wrote of a new Golden Age, elevating pastoral poetry to a philosophical theme of ‘new age’ prophesizing the coming of the ‘king’, an idea common to myth through the ages. The Golden Age is one of moral purity and reference to the ‘boy child’ was used also by Virgil later in his Eclogues (38 BCE) which have as their hero the ‘benefactor’.

The rhapsode, ραψοδως ‘stitcher of songs’77 grew in importance to such an extent that Homeric recitation became part of the Panathenaic Festival held in Athens form 6th Century BCE It has been noted already that Homeric language, as shown by statistical analysis, is very ‘efficient’ in that duplication of variants is rare. That way each common

75 Fausto Codino ‘Odissea’ Prefazione Einaudi Editore Torino 1982. 76 ‘Also an ‘enchanter’ hence αοιδή aiode ode/myth. 77 Possibly so named after the rhabdos ραβδος or staff used to beat time during recitations

145 concept is covered by the metrical alternatives which are useful in the composition of the six-foot metric line of Homeric epic.78

It has been said already that the primary function of epic was to educate rather than to record, thus the person of the hero is transformed and exaggerated into an ideal hero. It is also worth restating that in many Indo-European cultures with a tradition of oral epic/myth cycle the three key themes interact, namely that of priest, warrior and producer of riches. This ‘ideal’ hero becomes the chevalier sans peur et sans reproche of the Arthurian Cycle.

The Odyssey is venerated for the practical advice that it provides. Indeed, in Plato’s Ion a bard is ridiculed because he claims that he knows everything because he knows Homer!

Audiences learn how ships are handled, animals hunted, religious rites observed, wives chosen, inheritance passed on, spoils distributed, heroes lamented. It provides a taste of the Homeric Age, its beliefs customs and limitations. Sarah Pomeroy makes the very perceptive comment that Homeric society is something of a distortion of the late Dark Age society on which it was based. She states that it was a highly competitive or ‘agonistic’ society (from the word agon, competition or struggle)79. The imaginary past recreated by the poet was in every way better and grander than the contemporary world of the audience. Nevertheless much of what was described would have been based on the real-life experience for the audience to make sense of the action and to relate to the characters. A modern analogy, Pomeroy, says, is science fiction, which reflects the audience’s own world, no matter how fantastical the setting and the plot. The works of Homer contain tell-tale signs of contemporary life. In the Odyssey, for example, the palace on Ithaca is termed a ‘splendid residence’. It is subsequently shown that it has a dung heap in the front courtyard (on which poor Argus is languishing) as well as geese (no doubt tended by Penelope herself) and ewes wander in at milking time. The floor of

78 Ships, for example are either, well trimmed, well curved or well prowed depending on the metrical requirements of a line. 79 Hesiod writing in 700BCE states in ‘Work and Days’ (op.cit supra)’potter resents potter, carpenter resents carpenter, beggar is jealous of beggar, poet of poet’.

146 the megaron or Great Hall is packed earth and the walls are blackened with soot from the smoke created by the central hearth. ‘A palace more like the house of the basileus of Dark Age Nicoria than the excavated palace of the King of Bronze Age Pylos.’80

The changes made to the portrayal of Odysseus have to some extent ensured the continued relevance of this hero to succeeding generations. Michael Power81makes the point that ‘being miles away’ while the audience receives the narrative is what enables Odysseus to ‘reinvent’ himself anew for each audience he encounters. His ‘truth’ is thus always a poetic rather than a literal truth.

The opening paragraph of George Steiner’s review of a recent work of transformation is worth quoting at length because of its comprehensive catalogue of the history of the successive mutations undergone by Odysseus and it is this constant reinterpretation of the same material that makes Odysseus such an enduring hero.82

The matter of Troy continues to electrify the western imagination. The quality and variousness of works produced in Homer’s wake are unrivalled. They comprise Dante’s account of Ulysses’ final voyage and the enigmatic splendour of Goethe’s ‘Achilleis’ and the Helena-act in ‘Faust II’. Chaucer, Henryson83 and Shakespeare contribute to the inheritance of Troilus. The antecedents of Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ include Sante Maure’s ‘Roman de Troie’ and Boccaccio’s uses of Latin version of this teeming narrative. Homeric motifs inspire western drama from Shakespeare to Racine to O’Neill to Giraudoux.

Steiner then list the influence of Homer on the music of Monteverdi, of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ of Glük’s ‘Iphigenia’ operas, of Berlioz ‘Les Troyens’, he even includes two

80 Sarah Pomeroy ‘Ancient Greece, a political, social and cultural history’ Oxford University Press 1998 page 230, op.cit. supra 81 Michael Power ‘Transportation and Homeric epic’ PhD A.N.U. May 2006. 82 George Steiner ‘Realms of Gold, Sound and light: the power of a new Homer ’Times Literary Supplement 15th February 2002. A review of ‘Logue’s Homer: War Music’ by Christopher Logue also with a seven CD set of readings. 215 pages Faber 0571209076. 83 Robert Henryson (1460-1500) a Scot wrote in Middle Scots in the late 15th century ‘Testament of Cresseid’.

147 ‘neglected ’masterpieces-Walton’s ‘Troilus and Cressida’ and Tippett’s ‘King Priam’- as well as Offenbach’s parody ‘La belle Helene’.

Next, Steiner alludes to the iconographic art on vase paintings84 and to Sir Anthony Caro’s modernistic sculptures influenced by themes from Homer. As for the painter Turner ‘he was steeped in the Homeric.’

Finally, Steiner notes that mass media has Homer on film, television and in the comic book. He rightly claims that the ‘fundamental metaphors’ of the Odyssey are the shorthand of recognition that audiences use to structure and articulate many impulses, turning as they do on the doom of Troy, the home coming of Odysseus, the clairvoyance of Cassandra and the fidelity of Penelope. As for the cave of the Cyclops and Circe’s bower, ‘they are proverbial.’

Steiner also alludes briefly to the numerous translations of Homer’s epics from their transposition from archaic oral dialects85 down to the numerous versions in English, more than a dozen since the first modern version in prose by E.V.Rieu in 1946.86

The lasting impact of Homer is shown metaphorically in Logue’s magical description of ‘the welded cortex’ of the helmet of Achilles:

Though it is noon, the helmet screams against the light: Scratches the eye; so violent it can be seen Across a thousand years.

It is illuminating to gloss some of Steiner’s references. First, he rightly pays homage to Pope’s translation ‘after Milton, it remains unquestionably the most impressive epic in

84 In late classical period images Odysseus is often shown wearing a sailor’s cap. 85 Writing is mentioned only once in Home ‘Iliad’ Bk. 6.line 169 Prince Bellerophon is sent on a mission with σηματα λυγρα a ‘deadly cipher’ ,’magical marks’, uncanny symbols’ in a tablet folded double(diploun) hence the word diploma. The alphabet was introduced in about 700BCE from Phoenicia. ‘Alpha Beta’ by John Mann Headline Book Publishing London 2001. 86 For a complete treatment of English versions of Homer, see also George Steiner ‘Homer in English’ Penguin London 1999.

148 the language’ To make the point he quotes the often anthologized passage describing the Greek campfires,

The troops exulting sate in order round And beaming Fires, illumin’d all the Ground. As when the moon, refulgent Lamp of Night O’er Heav’ns clear Azure spreads the sacred light When not a breath disturbs the deep serene And not a cloud o’er casts the solemn scene; Around the throne the vivid Planets roll’ And stars unnumber’d gild the glowing Pole.

He completes this part of his essay with another Homeric style roll call of translators, from philosophers to statesmen to soldiers, from Thomas Hobbes to William Gladstone to T.E. Lawrence. He also refers to contemporary women who have been influenced by Homer’s epic, including the Pulitzer Prize winner the American Louise Glück(born 1943), for a body of work which included The triumph of Achilles, published in 1985. In the 18th Century, Goethe87 saw the Greeks as giving form to life on a grand scale, of savouring life to the limits. The Greek heroes were the most vivid experience of Goethe’s life and he loved them ‘as a moth loves the light’. He regarded the Classical mode as strong and the Romantic as sickly and weak. Homer was a timeless ideal and the Greeks of that time Goethe regarded ‘as ideal men in an ideal place.’ The Achilleis was written between 1797 and 1798, but he completed only one Book of some 800 lines, with incomplete outlines for a further eight Books. He did not recast this work, as he had proposed, into a novel form. In this poem, Achilles marries one of Priam’s daughters, the gods discuss the hero’s early death and the militarism of the Iliad is downplayed. Achilles is portrayed as a world-weary figure akin to Hamlet, ambiguous and indecisive. James Joyce’s Ulysses(1922) took the entire Odyssey as a template for a reworking of the quest motif, the ‘Wandering Jew’ of myth looking for his lost ‘son’ with the appropriate

87 Hans Kuhn ‘Homer and Weimar Classicism’ Homeric Studies Seminar ANU December 2005.

149 name of Stephen (from the Greek for ‘crown’) Daedalus, the great craftsman who soared to freedom on wings of wax. A letter written in 191788 sums up Joyce’s admiration for Odysseus:

I find the subject of Ulysses the most human in world literature. Ulysses did not want to go off to Troy; he knew that the official reason for the war, the dissemination of the culture of Hellas, was only a pretext for the Greek merchants who were seeking new markets. When the recruiting officers arrived, he appeared to be ploughing. He pretended to be mad. Thereupon they placed his little two year old son in a furrow. Observe the beauty of the motifs: the only man in Hellas who is against the war and the father. Ulysses thinks up the stratagem of the wooden horse. And the return to Ithaca, how profoundly human!

Gower, in Confessio Amantis (1390) depicted Odysseus as a sorcerer, while Dante in Book XXVI of the Inferno puts him in the circle of Hell reserved for evil counsellors and portrays him as greedy to learn and crafty, but nevertheless as commanding some respect especially since he describes his last voyage.89 He and Diomedes are immersed in flames

……si martira Ulisse e Diomede e cosí insieme Alla vendetta vanno come all’ira’ (Within the fire Ulysses and Diomedes suffer together in punishment as they had been in ire.)

The Renaissance saw Odysseus as a blend of warrior knight and learned clerk, but this characterization was rather confused as it was based on imperfect Latin translations of the

88 Richard Ellman ‘the selected letters of James Joyce’. Joyce detested the slaughter of the suitors. 89 Neither Dante nor Boccaccio had access to Greek texts but had to rely on inaccurate and incomplete translations into Latin. Dante ‘Inferno’ World’s Classics Series No 392 O.U.P. 1921

150 Troy story. Greek texts were not available in the West until about 1350 and the ability to read Classical Greek had all but vanished during the Middle Ages in Europe.90 The parallel language edition of Homer published in Basle in 1583 by Jean de Sponde was the one used by George Chapman(1559-1634) to produce the translation so much admired by John Keats.91 When first reading the work, Keats who had not studied Greek, exclaims in his poem,

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken.92

Keats was so enthusiastic about his discovery that he wrote to his friend John Hamilton Reynolds, ‘I shall learn Greek….I long to feast on old Homer as I have lately upon Milton.’93

The shift to a negative portrayal in poetry of Odysseus may well have begun with the Odes of Pindar and a discussion of this shift is well documented by Moya K. Mason94. In the Nemean Ode7 Pindar accuses Odysseus of being unfair to Ajax over taking possession of the armour of Achilles. ‘I suspect that the fame of Odysseus was greater than his worth, through the sweet words of Homer’. Also ‘In his lies and winged devices there is an awesome power, Ajax would not have plunged the sword95 into his own breast

90 Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) a diplomatist and merchant, worked with ethnic Greeks from Calabria in Southern Italy to revive the Greek classics in Italy as they had been dormant, lost in monastery libraries for some centuries. It was not until the early 1500’s that scholarly versions of the Greek texts were freely available. In 1504-1507 Aldo Manutio of Venice published in ‘pocket’ format for easy portability the first complete text of Homer. Erasmus in Cambridge used Manutio’s texts to teach himself Greek. Manutio also created the most elegant of Greek scripts and the Aldine type set has not lost its allure even today. 91 Chapman began his work as ‘Seven Bookes of the ‘Iliad’ in 1598 and of the ‘Odyssey’ from 1616 to 1624. He had been promised a pension for life by his patron, the Crown Prince Henry of England an enthusiast for epic, (see ChapterVI) but on the Prince’s death in 1612, it was never paid and Chapman died in great poverty. 92 John Keats ‘On First looking into Chapman’s ‘Homer’.’ Collected poems of John Keats The world’s classics series no7 Oxford 1954 93 ‘Letters of John Keats’ Selected by Frederick Page; The World’s Classics No.541 Oxford 1965; Letter No 63 to John Hamilton Reynolds, Mon 27 April 1818 94 Moya K.Mason ‘Odysseus, the fascinating man and his many transformations’ www.moyak.com/papers/odysseus.htm (2008) 95 It is the sword of Hector.

151 if men had seen the truth.’ He repeats this accusation in Isthmian 4, calling Odysseus a ‘user of treachery, a hatcher of schemes’.96

As it has been mentioned earlier, this study generally excludes any detailed discussion of the treatment given to the hero in drama. However, brief references to how the Greek dramatists reworked the character of Odysseus are relevant as they track the variations made to just this particular character from antiquity to the present. It is worth noting that in Greek drama, Odysseus is part of the supporting cast, never the central figure.

The dramatist Sophocles (496-406 BCE) in his play Ajax has Odysseus persuade the Atridae to provide Ajax with a burial. Odysseus does this not due to any compassion, but rather almost as a test his powers of persuasion ,‘I hated him when it was right to hate’ but it is proper, Odysseus argues to show respect to an enemy even if he dies in disgrace, provided that he has shown nobility in the past, as Ajax has done.

In the play Philoctetes, Odysseus displays no redeeming qualities. He is sent along with the young Neoptolemus, by the Atridae to bring Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles that he uses with such skill, to Troy. Ten years earlier, Odysseus had abandoned Philoctetes on the Island of Lemnos, in great pain with a suppurating wound to his foot which emitted a horrible stench. In this task of persuasion, in spite of attempts at trickery and his sophistry, Odysseus fails. The archer is persuaded to leave for Troy by Neoptolemus and by the spirit of Heracles.97

This play is one of the rare moments in epic story that Neoptolemus is shown in a positive light. In the Aeneid where he is called Pyrrhus, after killing Polites, the young son of Priam before the old man’s gaze, in a manner intended to be sacrilegious as well, ‘gnatum ante ora patris, patrem qui obtrucabat aras’98, he kills the old man himself .

96 Pindar’s ‘Odes’ Loeb Classics pages 17-33 for the Nemean Odes and page 383 for the Isthmians. 97 The Philoctetes Project has been used in the United States since the early part of this century to help U.S.Marines overcome post-traumatic stress as a result of combat. The play is performed to engage the audience with the character of the suffering soldier (Philoctetes) and the conflicted caregiver (Neoptolemus). 98 ‘Aeneid’ Bk. 2 lines 529-530’.within the sight of his father and the altar he was struck down.’

152 He is repaid in his own coin when Aeneas learns from Andromache that Pyrrhus has been struck down by Orestes ‘excipit incautum patriasque obtruncat ad aras’99Andromache also tells Aeneas that Pyrrhus had thrown her aside for Hermione, Helen’s daughter. Sophocles was writing at the time of the Peloponnesian war when many Athenians believed that the deviousness of the politicians was ruining the state. Alcibiades was such a man, a star pupil of Socrates, a persuasive orator, the darling of the army and a popular sporting hero who had won the chariot racing at Olympia. However, he changed sides, with disastrous results for Athens, as was his proposal for the Sicilian Expedition that resulted in the loss of the Athenian fleet and the death of some 40,000 men100

Euripedes (480-406) in his play Hecuba refers to Odysseus as ‘that slippery man….that mouth of his and his treachery.’101 In another passage, Euripedes calls Odysseus ‘a shifty-hearted butcher’s knife, that sweet, coaxing, pandering son of Laertes’.

In Women of Troy, the wife of Priam, Hecuba says this about Odysseus,

a monster of wickedness who tongue twists straight to crooked, truth to lies, friendship to hate, mocks right and honours wrong.

Odysseus is the enemy soldier who master minded the device which destroyed Troy, but Hecuba’s words show a very personal hatred of the man, more than just invective against and enemy. She not only hates what he does but who he is. In the play, Euripedes has Odysseus himself urging that the infant Astyanax, Hecuba’s grand son, must be thrown to his death from the walls of Troy.102

99 ‘Aeneid’ Bk.3 line 332. (Orestes) surprised him in an unguarded moment and struck him down in front of his paternal altar.’ 100 Thucydides ‘The Peloponnesian War’ Book vii chapter 8 for the Sicilian expedition Folio London 101 ‘Hecuba’ translated by Janet Lembke and Kenneth J. Reckford Oxford University Press 1991 page 31, 58. 102 Phillip Vellacott ‘Euripedes-The Bacchae and other Plays’ Penguin, London 1954 page 99.

153 The influence of Euripedes lasted well into the 19th Century when ‘Odysseus began to escape the burden of infamy’103and was rehabilitated eventually, albeit under his Roman name, by Tennyson. Thomas Carlyle, while not referring directly to Odysseus, nevertheless relied heavily on the classical Homeric hero as a template for his discussion of heroes in history. He felt ‘a heart-felt prostrate admiration and submission, burning and boundless for this noblest god-like form of Men,’ He connected his hero to the Christian hero cult of Christ, but Carlyle’s Jesus was based on the Old Testament classical hero and not on the ‘turn the other cheek’ type of the New Testament.104

Modern Greek writers like Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) have also been more positive about Odysseus105. He is shown to have great insight and after his return to Ithaca from his wanderings, he realized the value that even such a barren rock of an island has when it is his home, a wonderful description of the concept of nostos. Cavafy, in commenting on the poem in 1911, said that the local fishermen still claim that Odysseus turns up at Ithaca from time to time.

The Odyssey-A Modern Sequel by Nikos Katanzakis (1883-1957) 106 begins after the suitors are dead and Odysseus has sent their souls ‘cloud-ward, like rooks beating black- sails’. The character of Odysseus as portrayed in this work bears striking similarities with another well-known Katanzakis hero, Alexis Zorba107. Zorba tells his ‘Boss’ that he must not be friendly with the men who are to follow him, ’Man is a brute. If you are cruel to him he will fear and respect you….If you are kind to him, he plucks your eyes out.’ The theme of both works is that struggle is to be endured for its own sake, as an integral part of life, as opposed to engaging in it to reach some final goal. Neither sentiment reflects values of the Homeric epics.

103 W.B. Stanford op.cit. 104 Thomas Carlyle ‘On Heroes and Hero Worship’ Everyman Library Dent, London 105 See ‘Ithaka’The word is from the Greek adjective ithys which means straight, true. From ‘Collected Works’ translated by John Mavrogordato, Chatto and Windus, London 1978 106 Nikos Katanzakis ‘The Odyssey-A Modern Sequel’(1938) English translation by Kimon Friar, New York, Simon and Schuster 1958.The work consists of 33,333 verses and is also divided into 24 rhapsodes like its predecessor. 107 ‘Zorba the Greek’ film by Michael Cacoyannis 1964 with Anthony Quinn as Zorba.

154 In recent times, the Odyssey has been used for the purpose of parody. In 2000 the Coen brothers released a film entitled Brother, where art thou a comic version of the Odyssey, set in 1930’s Mississippi which is used for satire.108 It contains many allusions to the epic, including a wandering hero named Ulysses Everett McGill, a one-eyed Bible salesman who is killed by having a burning cross driven through his eye at a Ku Klux Klan rally and the Governor of the State, Menelaus ‘Pappy’ O’Donnell who sits in his office with a bust of Homer behind him. Ulysses’ wife is Penny, a feisty and independent-minded woman followed by a persistent suitor, who trounces Ulysses at fisticuffs.

Derek Woolcott (Nobel Prize for Literature 1990) has written Omeros, a retelling of the epic in a Caribbean setting while Charles Frazier used the Odyssey as a scaffold for his novel of homecoming entitled Cold Mountain.109 The central character, Inman, has adventures which parallel those of Odysseus, but he also has an inner journey similar to that undertaken by the heroes such as Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s novels.

The Odyssey and its central hero are constructed to conform to the shape and nature of epic but in reality, it is more like a folk tale. It is this quality that provides its capacity for transformation of the nature of the central character and of the events as well as in form, from verse to novel to film. The retelling of the episodic events provides each individual member of audiences with imaginary companions on each person’s life journey, connecting each to the myth cycles that have gone before. This type of epic developed the standard core of universally familiar stories which helped to create a sense of Panhellenic cultural identity binding the city-states in opposition to the barbarians who knew neither Greek nor these stories.

Up to 16,000 citizens in Athens would attend the panathenaia, the recital competition with bards vying with one another in their renditions of favourite passages from the Iliad

108 In what was at the very least marketing sleight-of-hand, Penguin Books released the ’Odyssey’ of E.V.Rieu with the poster from the film as a cover. Penguin also released Malory’s ‘Morte’ with the poster of the 2004 pastiche called ‘King Arthur’ film as a cover. 109 Charles Frazier ‘Cold Mountain’ Hodder & Stoughton London 1998. The novel was filmed, with critical and box-office success with Jude Law as Inman in 2003.

155 and the Odyssey. The assembled citizens would also hear tales from fantastical folk myths as mythology underpinned both education and intellectual life. In addition to these folk stories, Homer and Hesiod were central to teaching not only literacy, but also as providing topics for discussion by philosophers and historians. As a ‘folk’ hero of myth and legend, it is Herakles (ironically, his name means ‘The glory of Hera’), who is the archetypal hero of this genre. His character sums up the paradox of heroism. He is the product of an illicit relationship between Zeus and Alkmene who unwittingly engages in adultery. The wife of Zeus, Hera takes revenge not on Alkmene but on Herakles and it is Hera who sets the Twelve Labours for Herakles. He performs all the Labours, battles monsters, struggles with Death to save a friend, yet he is the victim of lust and greed. He rapes women, destroys cities and in his madness kills his own children. However, in recognition that he has struggled heroically and has overcome all challenges at his death he is redeemed and joins the immortal gods on Olympus.

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Chapter IV

From Antiquity to Christianity How Aeneas became Arthur.

Αίεν άριστεύειν κάι ύπειροχον εμμεναι αλλων Iliad Book VI line 2081

Stat sua cuique dies; breve et irreparabile tempus Omnibus est vitae: sed famam extendere factis Hoc virtutis opus Aeneid Book X lines 467-4692

Part A: The Trojan Prince.

Homer had filled in some of the gaps in his earlier treatment of the Troy story in the Odyssey and had also left his expertise as a model for other writers of epic to emulate and many did with greater or lesser success. Homer, the consummate epic poet, was a craftsman with specialist skills in diction, such as the deliberate use of archaisms and of rhetoric and oratory to give his characters distinctive voices. Virgil likewise by voicing the thoughts of his contemporaries, also idealized history. Epic poetry, as John Clark3 aptly states, is about ‘the wide horizon and the movement of many men’ and he also makes a worthwhile distinction between the heroic and the epic. The former is a chanson de geste, the story of one man; the latter is a ‘story of circumstance and scope, told in a grand style’. In both, audiences expect abundant imagery and abundant mortal combats. However, as this study demonstrates, there is considerable ‘crossover’ between these two cognate genres and the element that links them is the character of the hero.

1 Always strive to be the bravest and pre-eminent above all others. 2 Everyman’s last day is fixed, a lifetime is brief and not to be regained for all, but by their deeds to make their fame last, that is the work of the brave. 3 John Clark ‘History of Epic Poetry: Post Virgillian’. Kessinger Publishing, 2007 Page 7.

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The Roman Publius Papinius Statius was one of the first heirs of Homer to conclude the story of Achilles and his work enabled audiences to link Homer’s hero, at least chronologically, to that of Virgil. Statius, born in C.E. 45 in Naples, was the son of a schoolmaster who drilled him in the ‘set text’ epics of Greece and Rome. Subsequently, the poet had worked under the patronage of the Emperor Domitian and wrote epic works which were imitative of both Virgil and Lucan.4

At the time of his death, Statius had completed only about 1,100 lines of his Achilleid. Book 1 described how Thetis, anxious to prevent Achilles from fighting at Troy, hides him disguised as a girl on the Island of Scyros amongst the daughters of King Lycomedes. Achilles makes love to one of the King’s daughters, Deidameia and this results in the birth of Neoptolemus. The passage in Book 1 of the trumpet’s call to arms, a trick played by Odysseus to unmask Achilles is well known5. As befits a hero, even one in feminine disguise, Achilles is of such a size that the spear hidden under the garments is ‘lost’ in his hand when he lifts it up,

From his breast the garment fell without him touching it, already the shield and the puny spear are lost in the grasp of his hand (marvelous to believe) and he seems to tower, head and shoulders, over the Ithacan and the Aetolian Chiefs.

Statius also examines the conflict of human passions and his fragment is suffused with an almost romantic tenderness missing completely from the Greek epic. For example, he shows the disguised Achilles dancing with the Scyrian maidens.6 The description of how

4 ‘Somnus’, dedicated to Lucan as a posthumous birthday ode, addressed to his widow Polla. His ‘Thebiad’, based on ‘Seven Against Thebes’ uses divine machinery, as well as allegorical personification used by Virgil in his depiction of a hero, expanding on his model’s use of ‘pietas’ in Book II and ‘fama’ in Book III. 5 ‘Achilleid’ Bk 1 lines 878-881, illius intactae cecidne a pectore vestes iam clipeus breviorque manu consumitur hasta (mira fides) Ithacumque umeris excedere visus Aetolumque ducem. 6 ‘Achilleid ‘Bk 1 lines 372-378, qualiter Idaliae volucres, ubi mollia frangunt nubila, iam longum caeloque domoque gregatae si iunxit pinnas diversoque hospitat tractu venit avis, cunctae primum mirantur et horrent mox proprius propriusque volant atque aere in ipso paulatim fecere suam plausuque secundo circumeunt hilares et ad alta cubilia ducunt. It is worth comparing the rather clumsy Latin with the subtle and realistic avian imagery of Virgil’s Aeneid.

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they include this ‘strange bird’ in their dance is worth quoting at length as it shows the hero in transition, from a ‘feminized’ youth quite at ease with women, to a warrior, in an instant. Truly,‘marvelous to believe’.7

Just as Idalian birds, cleaving to the soft clouds and long since gathered in the sky or in their nests, if a strange bird from some distant region has joined them, wing to wing, they are at first filled with amazement and fear: then nearer and nearer they fly and while yet in the air, they have made him one of them, they hover joyfully around him with an encouraging beat of wings and lead him to their lofty resting place.

The ‘heel’ is mentioned by Statius8 but the full account is not provided until the 4th Century C.E. by the Virgilian scholar Servius. Other writers in the Epic Cycle provide further details of the life of Achilles and the dramatist Aeschylus portrayed Achilles and Patroklos as lovers9. The epics of Statius were much admired by Dante, who makes him an important character in Purgatorio and by Geoffrey Chaucer, who uses him as a model for his ‘heroic’ knightly characters.

The epic in the Silver Age10 saw a reaction against the glorification of heroes. Lucan (39- 65 C.E.) in his Pharsalia reacted against the Virgilian hero by having none in the epic other than Rome itself, which is also portrayed as a victim of rapacious men like Pompey, depicted as morally empty, and Caesar, who is simply ruthless. Lucan’s model was more along the lines of the much older Roman epic of Ennius than the ‘Hellenised’ epic of Virgil. For example, divine intervention is now replaced by an emphasis on the occult and the bizarre. Robert Graves in his short story No-one Writes Epics Anymore suggests another reason for this reaction, namely the entry into the field of epic composition by the

7 Maired McAuley ‘Epic masculinity in transition in the ‘Achilleid’. APA Colloquium 2006 for an exploration of Roman manhood and a discussion of Achilles as a ‘transvestite’. 8‘Achilleid' Bk 1 line 134 Thetis is having a premonition of how she will suffer when her son is slain so she is contemplating taking ‘my son down to the void of Tartarus to dip him a second time in the springs of the Styx’. 9 Aeschylus Fragment 134a Note: Homer merely uses the word ‘familiar’ i.e. close family retainer to describe Patroklos. 10 This literary period is from the death of Augustus in 14 C.E. to Hadrian in 117 C.E.

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Emperor Nero himself. With such a consummate artist composing in this genre, it was not prudent for others to compete. Nero’s jealousy of Lucan led to the Pisan conspiracy and the deaths of both Lucan and Petronius whose work the Satyricon contained the character of the supreme vulgarian Trimalchio (whose name means ‘Thrice blessed’) widely regarded as having been based on Nero.

Silius Italicus (26-101 C.E.) who was Consul in 68 C.E., the year Nero died, wrote the 17 book epic Punica, about the struggle between Hannibal and Scipio during the Second Punic War, in a style very imitative of both Homeric and Virgilian models. The Hannibal is a demonic character with no respect for human or divine law, while Scipio is totally without blemish. The epic displays all the more common characteristics of Silver Age epics11 and the style is closer to the romantic, emotive narrative of later epic-style novels than to the impersonal classical model. As it has been noted, the Homeric and Virgilian composer of epic does not invite the audience to ‘hear’ him but rather to listen to the voice of his character, very like the way Chandler uses the distinctive ‘voice’ of Marlowe to communicate with the audience. Punica, like its contemporaries, contains bizarre, supernatural elements; it favours an accumulation of ‘special effects’ and uses exaggerations for the sake of shocking the audience. The accounts of battles and of monsters are often overdrawn to the point of being ludicrous. The style is reminiscent of the ‘ranting’ exaggeration of declamation as practiced in the oratorical schools of that time. For example, in Punica during a naval combat, a man has his wrists severed from his body by the blow from an axe and the ship to which he was clinging speeds off with his severed hands still clinging to the gunwale.

Punica, at 14,000 words, is the longest historical Latin epic to have survived and, rather cruelly, it is usually called the worst12, probably because the author’s attempts at portraying the protagonists with accepted heroic characteristics are unsuccessful. Silius

11H. MacL. Currie ‘Selections from Silver Latin Epics.’ Bristol Classical Press (U.K.) 1985 Introduction. 12 Pliny the Younger described the effort of his fellow lawyer Italicus ‘scribebat carmina maiore cura quam ingenio’. He wrote his epic with greater care than imagination ‘Epistles’ 3.7.5. letter to Caninus Rufus. Betty Radice Translated and Edited ‘Pliny a self portrait in Letters’ Folio Society London.1978

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Italicus himself, however, was a stoic hero at his end, when afflicted with a painful, terminal disease, he starved himself to death in a house once inhabited by Virgil. Another Roman poet who dealt with the matter of Troy was Quintus Smyrnaeus (3rd century C.E.). His posthomericic The Fall of Troy begins with the final line of the Iliad and contains episodes dealing with the death of Achilles, the suicide of Ajax, the arrival in Troy of Philoctetes, the wooden horse and the sack of Troy. It is a sensational pastiche of all the well known episodes of this material and the ‘epic’ shows strong influences of both Homer and Virgil, at least as far as the subject matter goes.

The 21st Century concept of the hero, at least in reality, is that of an ordinary man who achieves extraordinary deeds, thus ‘pedigree’ is never mentioned unless it confirms the hero’s ‘ordinaryness’, perhaps a rural, poor or in some way disadvantaged ‘under dog’ status. Not so with the ancients, so it is appropriate at this point to examine the pedigree of Aeneas (Αινείας) Virgil leaves his audience in no doubt about Aeneas’s pedigree

Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo institior alter Nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis…. Os umerosque deos similis. (Our king is Aeneas, no one is more just in devotion to duty, no one is more prominent in war and in achievements under arms…. in countenance and form he resembles a god)13

He is the son of Anchises who belonged to the younger branch of the Royal House of Troy and is spoken about with respect in Book 1 of the Iliad.14 It is significant to note that Aeneas’s father is ‘hero’ much more in the mould of Odysseus while Aeneas acts with much more probity than his father.

Anchises met Aphrodite while pasturing his herds on Mount Ida and Aeneas was conceived there. Anchises was forbidden to reveal the name of the goddess but he instead

13 Aeneid Bk. 1 lines 544-545 and 588. 14 See also 'Iliad’ Bk.20 line 215 and for the education of Aeneas, mentioned in Bk.13 lines 463.

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boasted about the event to his friends and thus is blinded by a lightning bolt. Through trickery, he gains the use the horses, a gift to Tios by Zeus in compensation for the death of his son Ganymedes, to sire horses for himself. These same horses are later stolen as a trophy by Diomedes on a raid he conducts against the Trojans in the company of Odysseus. The frail old Anchises is rescued from the burning Troy by his son whose wanderings he shares. He dies in Sicily and Funeral Games are held in his honour. Aeneas later meets him in the Underworld where Anchises prophesizes Rome’s greatness and his son’s part in its creation.

Homer’s Aphrodite15 is sea-born, near Cyprus. She is the daughter of Zeus and of Dione and the wife of Hephaestus. Due to her connexion with Paris as well as that with Anchises and Aeneas, she is partisan to the Trojans. A prophecy before the birth of Aeneas predicts that he will one day rule the Trojans and be the ancestor of an everlasting dynasty. 16Aphrodite trying to protect her son intervenes in a battle but is wounded by Diomedes; when she complains to the Father of the gods, Zeus reminds her that she must concern herself with love and not war. She is the goddess of regeneration and fertility as well as of love, but not of marriage which is the domain of Hera. From Ovid, we learn that prostitutes regard Aphrodite (called Venus by the Romans) as her patron deity.

Aeneas did not initially take an active part in the War as Priam did not honour him adequately ‘Aeneas, standing idle, forever angered at Priam who always scrimped his honours, brave as Aeneas was among the Trojan fighters.’17In his first encounter with Achilles, while he is tending his cattle on Mount Ida, Aeneas is put to flight and has to be rescued by the Zeus who put ‘spring in my racing knees’. He is ‘beloved by both gods and men’18 even Poseidon, who is generally hostile towards the Trojans, rescues him on one occasion when Aeneas has reluctantly engaged Achilles in combat.19 Apollo eventually persuades Aeneas to lead his Dardanians against the Greeks and to take on

15 Her name symbolizes her marine origin, αφρος (aphros) foam. 16 This is also repeated in ‘Iliad’ Bk.20 lines353-354.See also Aeneid Bk. 1 line278 when Jupiter reassures Venus regarding Aeneas’s future, he will create ‘imperium sine fine’ an empire without end. 17 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 13 lines514-516.Later, even Achilles taunts him, ‘even if you killed me do you think that Priam would drop his crown in your hands?’ Bk. 20 lines 192-4 18 ‘Iliad’ Bk.11 line 64 and Bk. 16 line 620.

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Achilles face to face as Aeneas is the grandson of Zeus and he can ram Achilles through with his tough bronze. These words ‘breathed enormous strength in the good chieftain and right through to the front line he went, helmed in flashing bronze.’

He courageously protects the body of Pandarus and when Diomedes breaks his hip with a huge rock, Aphrodite comes to his rescue. However, she herself has to be rescued by Apollo when she also is wounded by the ferocious onslaught of. Diomedes20 On another occasion Aeneas assists Hector in a battle with Ajax and ‘with long menacing strides, head tossing his heavy helmet, his charging shield thrust out to defend his chest, he shook his bronze spear’ and thus he prepares to fight Achilles who meets him ‘like a lion on a rampage’.21 Aeneas is particularly interesting in this comparative study of the transmission of the hero through time as he is a heroic character in both the Homeric and the Virgilian modes. According to Livy, Aeneas and Antenor were viewed positively by the Greeks because both had advocated the return of Helen. Virgil not only provided an account of Aeneas’s wanderings but added to these tales the episodes involving Dido and Carthage.22

Aeneas sailed to Sicily and built the towns of Elyme and Aegest named after the two Trojans he met there, Elymus and Aegestus. Virgil has Aeneas land in Italy seven years after the fall of Troy and then compresses all the events from the landing until the death of Turnus into twenty days.23

The story that the Romans descended from the Trojans was widely believed from an early period and possibly arose from the fact that the inhabitants of Latium were from Pelasgian24 stock, hence the worship of Aphrodite. Aeneas is the personified idea of a common origin. Livy states that Aeneas is worshipped in places that trace their origins to

19 ‘Iliad’ Bk.20 line 185on 20 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 5 lines 300-345. 21 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 20 lines 161-180. 22 See the map of Aeneas’s wanderings in the Appendices 23 This has given rise to the oft-repeated comment that the Aeneid reverses the order of the ‘Iliad’ and the Odyssey in that in the Roman epic, the wanderings are the first part of the story and the intense conflict between heroes mirrors the ‘Iliad’ in the second part of the epic in both themes and in compressed time. 24 They were the Pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece ‘Oxford Classical Dictionary’, 2nd edition, 1979.

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him.25Virgil states this categorically, that Aeneas has created a new people, no longer Trojan or Retulian but Italian, ‘the sons of Rome will rise to imperial power by means of Italian courage’. This will also placate Juno’s hatred of the Trojans as the new people will venerate her.26 The Roman Aeneas, as will be seen later in the discussion, is a much wiser and statesman-like figure than the dashing young Trojan of the Iliad. From the start of the epic, Virgil is at pains to show a new version of Homeric Aeneas to his Roman audience. Galinsky 27shows the connexion that Virgil makes between Aeneas and Hercules a Greek hero much beloved of the Romans. Virgil links Aeneas in prowess to Heracles (Hercules in Latin) as both are associated visually wearing ‘the fur of a shaggy lion’( villosi pelle leonis)28. Virgil advocates the use of measured force (‘vis temperata’) as being appropriate for a hero, denouncing the force without wisdom (‘vis consili expers’) as being destructive of one self as well. Both the monster (semi hominis) Cacus in the Hercules episode and Turnus exhibit a mind twisted with fury (‘furiis mens effera’ )and Turnus is often described as being in a fury (‘furens’).

Roman legend 29 connected Aeneas with certain places in Sicily and in Italy, particularly with Lavinium,30 named after Aeneas’s Italian wife Lavinia, as the head of the Latin League. Patriotic writers constructed myths which both dignified their land with antiquity and satisfied the latent dislike of Greek superiority, especially in matters of culture. One can almost feel the smugness of Virgil when he refers to Perseus, King of Macedon as ‘Achilleus armipotens… genus armipotenti Achilli’31 to an audience who would have known that Perseus had been totally defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Pydna in

25 Livy ‘Histories’ Bk. XL section 4 26 Aeneid Bk.12 lines 820-830. 27 G.K.Galinsky ‘Hercules and the Aeneid’ in ‘Oxford Readings in Vergil’s Aeneid’ edited by S.T. Harrison Oxford University Press 1990. 27 Chapter on Herakles in Virgil's Aeneid Book VIII (Evander recounts the Herakles/Kakos episode.) 28 Aeneid Bk. 8 line 177. Base drummers in Regimental bands wear the skin of a lion on ceremonial occasions. 29 C.M. Bowra ‘From Virgil to Milton’.op. cit page 48 30 Named after Lavinia, the ‘Italian’ wife, daughter of Latinus, King of Latium, present day Lazio, the Province in which Rome is located. 31 Aeneid Bk6 line 839 ‘The descendant of the valorous Achilles’.

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BCE168 by Paulus Aemilius, a Roman Consul, and that this heralded the collapse of Greece and its fall under Roman sway. Aeneas, as an enemy of the Greeks and as a survivor of their destruction of his city, made him fit to be the founder of Roe’s greatness. The Iulii regarded themselves as descendants of Iulus (also called Ascanius32 in the Aeneid) who founded Alba Longa. This ‘pre’ Roman settlement helped link the Aeneas epic to the other mythical founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus who were descended from the Royal line of Alba Longa. A pageant of future Roman heroes is shown to Aeneas when he visits Anchises in the Underworld. Aeneas is also instructed, appropriately in such a nationalistic ‘secondary’ epic, with Rome’s ‘mission statement’

tu regere imperio Romane, memento Hae tibi erunt artes pacisque inponere morem Parcere suiectis et debellare superbos.33

Aeneas is endowed by Virgil with the qualities of persistence, self-denial and total dedication to a higher goal. Thus is Aeneas elevated from being a secondary commander in Homer to a hero surpassing Hector in stature and in prowess with arms.

He is superior to Achilles as he is still alive at the end of his quest and to Odysseus as he is the founder of a new race of people. According to Livy, Aeneas was slain by the Rutuli and his body was carried into heaven34as early as the 3rd Century BCE the Romans venerated Aeneas as Iuppiter Indiges (The Needy) and as the founder of their race. By Virgil’s time of the late Republic, Rome was searching for a truly national identity as it was geographically extensive, occupying the entire Italian peninsula and its economy was

32 Thus according to Livy’s ‘History’ (Book I section 3) Iulius is the son of Lavinia. In Book 2 of the Aeneid lines 563 and 598, Virgil has Iulius/Ascanius as the son of Creusa who perished in the destruction of Troy. To Romans, the mother was of not of primary importance as regarding pedigree, what was significant was that Aeneas was the father. Augustus, in the Forum that bears his name, built a statue of Aeneas and Ascanius displayed along with those of the Kings of Alba Longa. 33 Aeneid Bk. 6 lines851-853 ‘to rule nations with imperial might will be your charge, these shall be your arts, Romans, to impose terms of peace, to spare the humbled and to crush the proud.’ 34 Like the body of Arthur, the body of such a hero cannot simply be disposed of like that of other mortals.

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able to sustain visions of grandeur. This nationalistic fervour is also evident in the biographies of Cornelius Nepos with their veneration of traditional values.

The ‘warrior’ class, the patrician families of Rome, was constantly preoccupied with martial activities and its individual members constantly sought everlasting fame in their lineage35 the Aeneid is a ‘myth of origin’ for this class, a fabrication to assert communal prestige and in this it is similar to many other myths intricately woven with history, present in the records of most literate civilizations.36 It was not only Virgil who glorified the history of this class and of the Roman people. The literate elite shared manners, culture and tastes from hunting to literature; hunting provided many of the images and metaphors used in didactic writing such as epic.

Erich Segal 37 notes that male Roman society contained a very high percentage, probably as high as eighty percent, of ‘conturbernales’, men who had served in the army. This society was essentially a militarized citizenry that built a vast ideological system around the figure of the father.38 The popular arts, such as comedy most probably worked as a release to that society’s oedipal anxieties about the forms of authority which defined it, writes Segal. The comedies of Plautus were an antidote to the epic recitations as the comedies satirized ’duty’, career39, public institutions, marriage, the family, money and above all the authority of the father figure.

35 Encyclopaedia Britannica, entry on ‘Epic’ passim. 36 Campbell and Frazer, opera citata supra. The ANZAC tradition is such a ‘myth of origin’ in Australian culture. It is noteworthy that the killing grounds of Gallipoli can be seen in the distance from the site of ancient Troy. 37 Erich Segal ‘Roman Laughter; the plays of Plautus’. Harvard University Press.1989 Introduction, page 11. 38 The term of respect when addressing a Roman was ‘Pater’. The senators were the ‘Patres Conscripti’ the Appointed Fathers. The head of the Roman household was the ‘pater familias’ who literally held the power of life and death over all members of his family. 39The gradus ad honorem the pathway to honour, a progression in status and rank which all members of the elite felt bound to follow

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As for the ‘facts’ of epic, the Romans regarded them as allegorical, although not unhistorical, says Segal. They did not believe in Kakos or Polyphemus40 and would have regarded as allegorical the episode in Aeneid9 when Aeneas’s ships are turned into sea nymphs to prevent the Rutulians from burning them.

Pliny’s letters were circulated and were equally didactic on how one behaved as a Roman. Knowledge of the classics became a mark of status and provided a moral advantage to those who could quote from the wisdom of the ancients. Horace refers to these works as ‘smelling respectably of the lamp’, that is they were poured over in private study in the evenings as well as being recited at communal occasions.41

Horace reinforces the significance of the voice of the bard in ensuring lasting glory, ‘Many heroes lived before Agamemnon, but all were overwhelmed by never ending night because they lacked a bard.’42 In this poem he enumerates the heroic qualities of Lollius and these can apply equally to Marlowe.

You have a mind experienced in all matters, well balanced between good experiences and bad ones, punishing greedy fraud, holding aloof from money that attracts everything to itself….you prefer honour to expediency, you reject with strong disdain the bribes of the wealthy, you carry your weapons through opposing enemies.43

This secondary epic of national identity, however, continued to use the simpler techniques of primary epic, namely the lauding of heroic exploits of warriors: the epic

40 There is speculation that the myth of the one –eyed Cyclops was based findings of skeletons of the heads of prehistoric dwarf elephants found in Sicily, with the hole in the skull for the trunk looking like a large single eye socket. ‘Storia della Sicilia’Einaudi Editore Milano 2000 41 Quintus Horatius Flaccus ‘In Praise of Lollius’ ‘Odes’ Book IV ix. 42 Vixere fortes ante Agamemnon Multi, sed omnes inlacrimabiles Urgentur ignotique longa Nocte, carent quia vate sacro.’

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narrative assumed a long recollection of fame and supplied rôle models for the new generation of fighting men. The Aeneid has as a main theme the need for self-mastery and it looks squarely to the future. Aeneas is the symbol of piety, he has faith in the new race he has created that is destined to expand from a single village on the banks of the Tiber to an empire ‘beyond the Garamantians and the Indians’. Aeneas remakes himself from a Trojan into a Roman and through his submission to the divine he soars to greatness bending before a will stronger than his own. Yet he is no ‘cardboard saint’, Virgil shows an Aeneas with purpose as well as with a sense of weariness and sadness, making him human. Sail wherever you want, Aeneas tells his pilot, one land is as good as another now that Troy is gone.

He is the survivor of an immense destruction, having lost everything, his homeland, wife, companions, and later endured shipwreck and finally was compelled to surrender to the will of the gods and abandon his deeply felt love for Dido. Yet Aeneas takes on the task of being an agent of divine will even though his personal joy is ashes. One feature that separates Aeneas from Achilles is that the former displays genuine compassion and sorrow for the plight of others, whereas Achilles never really rises above seeing all things only from his own perspective.

Even male bonding is denied him, his fondness for Pallas is destroyed by the spear thrust of Turnus. However, he eventually recognizes that Italy is ‘Hic amor, hic patria est’ (here is love here is my homeland), when he meets Lavinia.

Aeneas is compared favourably with Hector, in the ‘Iliad’ as well as by Virgil,

Aeneas, son of Anchises flanking glorious Hector Flying before them now like clouds of crows or starlings Screaming murder, seeing a falcon dive in for the kill The hawk that wings grim death at smaller birds-

43 Lollius was ‘a just and true magistrate’ and served as Consul for a single year ‘consulque non unius anni, sed quotiens bonus atque fidus iudex.’

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So pursued by Aeneas and Hector Argive fighters Raced….lust for battle lost. 44

Hector had great appeal for Roman sensibilities, his patriotism, his loyalty, his moral manliness are all admired. He is a son, husband, father, champion of men, tamer of horses. It has already been noted45how at his funeral, his wife says how she will miss the tender words he has left unspoken, his mother exults in the favour shown by the gods to her son and Helen remembers his kindness and chivalry. In the words of Virgil,

Ambo animus ambo insignes praestantibus armis’ Hic pietate prior46

Aeneas is on a sacred mission and when he introduces himself to the deity he wishes to propitiate with the words ‘pius Aeneas sum’ he is not being smug he is merely proclaiming that he is god-fearing and almost helpless resignation to the fact that because he is pius, he cannot do otherwise than obey.

As Clark 47notes, the Romans admired the manliness and the haughty self-righteousness of Achilles as well as his physical prowess and courage, but they would have regarded these qualities as being more suited for a centurion than for a national hero worthy of transplanting a religion and of founding an empire. Propertius, a contemporary of Virgil, said that with the Aeneid something greater than the Iliad was born.48

Richard Jenkins49enumerates the characteristics of Aeneas as an Homeric hero. He has the required physically imposing size ‘simul accipit alveo ingentum Aenean’50 and he is

44 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 17 lines 755-759 and also Bk. 6 lines 77-81. 45 See Chapter II 46 Aeneid Bk. 11 line 291 ‘both have great spirit and both are outstanding with weapons but this one (Aeneas) is first in devotion to duty.’ 47 John Clark ‘History of Epic: post Virgillian’{sic} op.cit. page 19 48 Quoted by John Clark who also noted a comment by Voltaire on Virgil, that if Homer had made Virgil it was his greatest work. Voltaire is also quoted as saying ‘It is sufficient in order to understand this epoch to have read Homer and Virgil’. Voltaire ‘Essai sur la poésiè epique’. 49 Richard Jenkins ‘Classical epic; Homer and Virgil’ Bristol, Classical Press 1992. Chapter II passim

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handsome as Apollo, resplendent in his hunting outfit, the beauty of his face and person have no match in other men.51 He is eloquent, as when in Book 2 he relates the tale of the sack of Troy, but he lacks the Homeric style of open, cooperative and sustained speech. In Virgil there are no passages of dialogue that show intimacy or companionship as men (and women) share their suffering.

It is pietas that provides the greatest contrast between the Homeric and the Virgilian hero. Unlike the reckless individualism of the Homeric Aeneas, the Virgilian one accepts responsibility and thus gains a new austerity in that he cannot be judged solely by personal ambition, and there is always a conflict between personal desire and the obedience to the dictates of pietas. Aeneas hesitates before he leaves Dido and he is aware of the sacrifice that this decision requires.

In the first half of the epic, Aeneas struggles to remain pius. Anchises greets him with these words when they meet in the Underworld

venisti tandem, tuaque expectata parenti Viciit iter durum pietas?52

He subordinates his love for Dido and ‘invitus’, unwilling, does he set sail to found another homeland for the Trojans. At first, he wants to ‘resurgere Troiae’ to resurrect Troy53 but later he realizes that his task is to create a new nation and a new city. He is meant to reflect Augustus who saw himself as the saviour of Rome and that this was achieved by avoiding personal aggrandizement, calling himself simply princeps, the first citizen of Rome. The negative aspects of his public actions were left behind in the person of Octavian, emerging fresh and untainted as Augustus. In his new Forum statues of Aeneas and Romulus occupied the central niches of the two large exedrae (large semi-

50 Aeneid Bk. 6 line 412-413. ‘At the same time the boat bears the weight of huge Aeneas’s that is, when he boards a small boat it almost sinks because of his weight and size. Virgil invariably used the Greek form of the accusative ending (-an) for ‘Aeneas’s instead of the Latin one (-um). 51 Aeneid Bk. 4 lines 141-150. 52 Aeneid Bk.6 lines 687-688Have you come so far and has your adherence to duty helped you overcome this arduous journey? He adds,’over what lands, over what immense seas have you been tossed?

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circular recesses) and created a balance between pietas and virtus. It is significant that the statue of Aeneas had its head veiled in the style of the High Priest as Augustus held that office as Pontifex Maximus.54

Roy Pritchett55 correctly identifies the various types of epic hero and labels them in accordance with Aristotle’s definition in the Poetics where some heroes were tagged as ‘weighty’ (σποδαιος) spodaios and others as (φαυδος) phaidos ‘light’. Or as Aristotle explains, some heroes are better than us, some are worse, some are the same. These various types are also discussed elsewhere in this study but Pritchett’s classification is relevant at this point as it serves as an indicator of the various heroes throughout the ‘hero spectrum’, including the ‘sub sets’ of heroes which will be discussed later in this study. First, Pritchett classifies the Divine hero of myth as supreme over men and over his environment.

Next, the actions of the hero of Romance are marvelous and include enchanted animals and magic weapons Also, the laws of nature have been somewhat suspended. This is the hero of chivalry, the prince in a national epic and the holy figure in the lives of the saints. The hero as leader follows; he is superior to other men but not to the natural world. He has personal authority and powers of persuasion and operates in a ‘high mimetic’ mode, that is, there is a close external resemblance between one person and another. All of these type of hero resemble one another in their characteristics, for example, the hero of action fiction such as Philip Marlowe is so similar to Sam Spade that Hollywood used the same actor to portray both characters.56

53 Aeneid Bk.1 line 206 54 See ‘Res Gestae Divi Augusti’( circa 14 C.E.) (The works of the Divine Augustus) for a description of the clipeus virtutis, the shield of courage which celebrates the four virtues, pietas, virtus, clementia, iustitia.,(duty courage, mercy and justice).The entry concludes with the comment that ‘after that (the presentation of the shield) I (Augustus) excelled all others in dignity.’ It is comparable to the shield of Aeneas described in Book 8 of the Aeneid. In the ‘Res Gestae’ Augustus portrays himself as Pius rather than as Divus . The Res Gestae also notes the epic naval battle staged by Augustus. He had a pit dug 1,800 feet long by 1,200 feet wide and ‘thirty triremes and smaller craft took part and more than 3,000 men in addition to the rowers fought in these fleets.’ http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/14resgestae.html scanned by J.S.Arkenberg. 55 Roy Pritchett ‘The Theme of the Hero’, Wm. C. Brown Company Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa 1969.Chapter I passim. 56 See Chapter IX for a discussion of performance by and actor to interpret a character for a film audience.

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In the fourth category, the hero is an ordinary man who operates in a ‘low mimetic’ mode. He is typically a sporting hero or an adventurer, a person who possesses a skill which sets him apart from his fellows but which does not necessarily elevate him above them.57

Finally, there is the ‘inferior’ hero who operates in the ironic mode and is not included in this study.

Pritchett makes an interesting point regarding audience responses to the various categories of hero and attributes these changed responses to the development of a middle class culture. In classical culture, religion was polytheistic and mythological so the heroes like Achilles and Aeneas are semi-divine and ‘god-like’.58 In Homer and particularly in Virgil, there are elements which link heroes closely with the gods. The elite leadership of these societies would encourage this mixing of myth with the divine as it strengthened the connexion between these leaders and the heroes and the gods. In this way, their followers would accord them some form of divine power. The concept of Fate/Destiny associated with this heavenly/earthly connexion encouraged the belief that the gods had the power to become involved in the lives of humans.

When religion becomes monotheistic, there is a sharp distinction between the religious and the secular and so the legends of Christian Chivalry and of sanctity become isolated from the tales of Romance and adventure. This trend began with the Morte and the Arthur

57 See also Chapter VII. The commercialization of sport has changed the ‘ranking’ of sporting heroes by paying them very large sums of money. Television programmes have also invested them with the ‘halo effect’, that is because they are skilled on the playing field, they also have high moral worth and can be trusted to endorse products for purchase by the public, such as mobile telephones, quit-smoking medication and hair restoring products as well as alcoholic drinks. 58 E.G.Miller ‘The Trojan Prince’, Introduction, passim University of Newcastle Press, 2001. It should be noted that this link has been encouraged throughout history, at least since the time of Charlemagne who maintained he was a descendant of King David of the Old Testament. In fiction, Arthur seeks the Holy Grail and Marlowe seeks the elixir of pure friendship and loyalty. The present British Monarch is also the head of the Church of England and the Defender of the Faith. King James I believed that he had the power to heal certain diseases of his subjects merely with his touch. The Emperor of China was the Son of Heaven and the only link between the earthly and the divine.

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Cycle and for the purpose of this study, concludes with the saga of Marlowe and with subsequent tales involving action and adventure heroes.

The hero of epic, thus, was one link in the chain of heroic men: failure to preserve honour would snap this link. Tus epic provided not only and account of deeds, but a genealogy of warriors.

The Aeneid is a highly political poem which links Augustus, the new princeps, the first citizen of Rome, to Aeneas.59The characterization continues the sequential development of what a hero is: does he have free will or is he subject to determinism?

Valerius Flaccus’ epic hero, Jason, is completely in the Homeric mode. In the Argonautica, Jason’s personality provides a unifying factor for his band of fifty heroic companions and counteracts the latter parts of the epic’s descent from heroic exploits to recording events that are mean and treacherous as well as full of magic and intrigue. The love affair between Jason and Medea, however, is handled sensitively in poetic terms and is reminiscent of that between Aeneas and Dido60.

The later educational impact of the Troy material in general and of the hero in particular has been huge, especially in providing an enduring rôle model of masculinity for Western males. Even though drama is outside the scope of this study, it is, nevertheless, worth noting that it places great emphasis on the exploration of themes of heroic action; in the case of the character of Odysseus, it has been seen how he is transformed from hero to villain. About one quarter of the plays of Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles draw on

59 See also the attempt by Henry Tudor to establish a link between his family and King Arthur. His son Henry VIII claimed similarities between himself and the Biblical King David. A ‘younger son’ David was ‘ruddy and of fair countenance’ (I Samuel 17:42) and skilled at playing the harp, qualities which Henry possessed. Ironically, there were other less appealing similarities, David’s first wife Micah was barren, and consequently King David married seven times after her. Henry limited himself to six wives. 60 ‘Argonautica’, dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian and his victories in Britain was left unfinished because of the death of the author, whose death was lamented in CE 90 by the great rhetorician Quintilian. He based his work on that of the same name by Apollonius of Rhodes. The Loeb Edition’s editor regards Flaccus’ work as ‘superior in the description of character’ to that of Appolonius. It is interesting to note that the ‘Argonautica’ and the ‘Aenied’ in Book 5 are the only epics which have an account of a boat race.

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epic as a source and on the theme of the destructive nature of war and its effect on the non combatants, principally on the women of heroes.

Alexander the Great, Plutarch tells us61 ‘Kept a copy of the ‘Iliad’, corrected by Aristotle, called the casket copy, along with his dagger, under his pillows, declaring that he esteemed( the Iliad) as ‘ a perfect portable treasure of all military virtue and knowledge’. Alexander offered sacrifices at Achilles ‘tomb’ and wished that he too had such a poet as Homer to sing his praises. When shown the ‘harp of Paris’ he commented that he would have preferred to see that one of Achilles, the one that he had used to sing the glories and great actions of brave men.

So closely did Alexander identify with his rôle model Achilles, that when Hephaestion, his favourite, died of a fever while on campaign, Alexander held funeral games in his honour and crucified as a sacrifice the doctor who failed to heal his beloved. 62 Alexander himself died not long after of what modern commentators believe to have been kidney and liver failure brought on by excessive consumption of alcohol.

Evan Jewell63sees Alexander as representing the hero in the Greek tradition for while firmly rooted in reality as an actual historical figure; his life is also shrouded in myth and legend. As it has been shown, the classical Greek notion of a hero is a composite of both myth and literary tradition, some of which has some basis in reality. Jewell examines two ‘faces’ of Alexander, his military achievements and his desire to seek divinity. In these aspects Jewell notes, ‘Alexander does not fit simply with Lord Raglan’s criteria (although he does achieve seven points!) nor with Campbell’s monomyth of separation-imitation- return.

61 Plutarch’s ‘Lives’ ed E Fuller Dell Publishing N.Y. 1964 pages 276; 283 62 Arrian ‘Anabasis Alexandri’ Volume II Chapter 7 14.3 Loeb Classics No. 269. 63 Evan Jewell ‘Alexander the Great and the Classical Greek notion of the hero’ Classicum Vol.XXXIV 2 October 2008.

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Alexander’s military achievements are based both on arête (military virtue) and on pothos, a longing to surpass Achilles in prowess and renown.64Alexander also claimed descent from Achilles. The idea that Alexander may have sought advice from Indian sages on how to become a god does not sit well with Plutarch, who portrays Alexander as virtuous, philosophical and a level headed commander who abstained from extravagances. He does note that he did found seventeen cities that bear his name. There is controversy Jewell notes, over the interpretation of the reason behind Alexander’s wish to have Greeks perform the ritual of proskynesis (prostration) a gesture they reserved only for gods, unlike the people of the East conquered by Alexander.

Plutarch also contradicts himself over accounts of Alexander’s alcohol intake. In Chapter 23, he says that Alexander liked to linger over his cups, doing more talking than drinking and that when there was great business at hand neither food, sport, sex nor drink distracted Alexander. In a later Chapter (66), Plutarch admits that Alexander could become offensively arrogant and ‘descend to the level of a common soldier’ when in his cups. Jewell correctly states that Alexander, while having some of the characteristics of the Greek notion of a hero, was really a new type, centered around military command, the ruler cult, a founder of empires and in that he was really much closer to the Roman notion of a hero.

Julius Caesar and other significant Romans such as Pompey, identified closely with Alexander’s military exploits and were also schooled in Greek epic literature. Plutarch notes that Caesar had the Homeric quality of wanting to be preeminent as he reputedly said ‘I had rather be the first man among theses fellows (a small wretchedly poor village in the Alps) than second man in Rome.’ In another part of his biography of Caesar, Plutarch notes that ‘Caesar and Alexander have all the attributes of a hero.’ The historian Appian in his ‘Civil War’ also links the two men in a positive way. 65

64 Plutarch calls this desire philotimia love of honour or distinction, ambition. 65 Plutarch ‘Lives’ Volume II (dealing with both Caesar and Alexander. Loeb Classics number LO99 Chapter 11 3-6 and 17 lines 149-150. and Appian ‘Roman History, Civil War Book 2. Volume III Loeb

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Since Hellenic times, the character of the hero of epic has provided a strong influence on the development of Western thought and on the formation of young males who have received the so called ‘classical education’. ‘My father, eager to have me become a good man compelled me to commit to memory all the poetry of Homer’, claimed Xenophon66. The Iliad and the Odyssey were the basis of Hellenic education and these epics told the stories of the ancestors of the public men of antiquity. Homer was regarded as the poet of activity

As for Divine Homer, surely his honour and glory accrue simply from this, that he gave needful instruction in matters of battle orders, valorous deeds, arms and men67.

The Sophist Protagoras, in the eponymous Platonic dialogue also refers to Aristophanes68 The Frogs regarding the benefits for schoolboys in reading Homer. In Frogs one character says,

in imitation of him (Homer) my purpose was to present in poetry the many excellent acts of Patroklos in order to induce the citizen to become a rival to him whenever he heard the trumpet of war69.

Cicero adopted pietas as one of the imperatives of statecraft. His writings supported the belief in the value of classical writers as role models. In the Pro Archia (12-14) he states

Philosophers’ voices would be silent and in darkness if it was not for the light of literature. The likeness of the very gallant men, Greek and Latin writers have left us

Classics Number L004. The Iulii claimed descent from Aeneas Aeneid Book 6. in the section on the parade of Roman heroes. 66 Xenophon was a pupil of Socrates. See ‘The Memorabilia of Socrates’ in Xenophon ‘Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, Symposium and Apologia’ Loeb Classics, Volume IV Number L168 page 48. 67 Aristophanes ‘Frogs’. The cry made by the chorus of frogs has been adopted as the ‘war cry’ at football games by Princeton University. βρεκεκεκεζ κοαζ κοαζ (brekekekex koax koax) is purely onomatopaeic. 68Plato ‘Protagoras’. Loeb Classical Library Volume II number L165, section 325-326a 69 Aristophanes ‘Frogs’ Loeb Classics Volume IV number 180N, line 1040-1042; 1038-39

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not only that we may look at them, but also that we may imitate them. These I have always set before me in handling affairs of state in an endeavour to mould my heart and mind by the very contemplation of men who have excelled.

In his oration Pro Murena (21-22) he praises the collective deeds of the soldiers of Rome, ‘The worth of a soldier’s life exceeds that of all others. It is this that has won a name for the Roman people, it is this that has won everlasting glory for our city.’ The hero of this epic is Rome itself and this glory is won by men whose individual wills have been subordinated by their pietas.

In like vein, in recent times Michael Herr in Dispatches70 writes of young American soldiers watching John Wayne 71World War II films before going to fight in Vietnam, just as Achilles sings to Patroklos of famous deeds of fighting heroes72.

As well as teaching basic literacy and numeracy the ‘grammatistes’ of the ‘old education’ in Athens persuaded the boys in their charge to memorise edifying passages from epic poetry. Although there was no State involvement in education there were some regulations by the 4th Century BCE about the contents of the curriculum, about class sizes and about the hours of business. The ‘didaskaloi’ (school teachers) were paid by the fathers of the boys they taught and the fee was, like most things in Greece, negotiated on an individual basis.

The purpose of such an education was not principally the acquisition of skills (ars) such as reading, writing, numeracy, playing the kithera or athletics. The main aim was to turn the paides, the young boys into andres agathoi, virtuous men. The male children of the Athenian social and political elite were educated in this way:

70 Michael Herr ‘Dispatches’ Vintage Books 1991 71 John Wayne was something of an ironic rôle model as he never served in uniform yet gave a convincing performance of the ultimate combat soldier in many ‘propaganda ‘films. 72 ‘Iliad’ Bk. 9 186-189

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the teachers set out on the benches the poems to read and they (the boys) are compelled to learn by rote those works which contain many admonitions and numerous descriptions, eulogies and commendations of virtuous men of long ago so that the boy out of a sense of jealousy imitates them and yearns to be this sort of man himself73.

It was such boys who were thus prepared for the tales of Roman heroes and in later generations for the great deeds of Christian knights in pursuit of damsels and of the Grail.

Virgil left his audience with the problem of how to respond to the death of Turnus, brought about so viciously by a man who, right up to the very end of the epic, has done everything required of one worthy of the epithet pius.

Aeneas is not only a hero who spans two genres of heroic men, the Homeric and the Virgillian, he is also a man whose ambivalence marks the end of the heroic age of certainty. He is not just a hero whose status is intrinsic to his being, namely aristocratic, handsome and strong, like Agamemnon or Menelaus or Ajax or all of the Argive captains at Troy. The Roman hero must behave in an ethical way and Aeneas does until the very conclusion of the epic, when in a frenzy, he kills Turnus.

Aeneas, ‘furiis accensus et ira terribilis’, ‘blazing up and terrible in his anger’, looks down at the prostrate body of Turnus whom he has just bested in mortal combat in the classic heroic tradition. He sees his defeated enemy wearing as a trophy the sword scabbard of the young Pallas whom Turnus has slain in an earlier encounter. Turnus displays all the accepted signs of surrender, yet Aeneas, who throughout the epic has resisted the temptations of passion, loses control. In fury (fervidus) he sinks74 his blade into Turnus’ chest, invoking the name of Pallas: ‘this wound will come from Pallas; Pallas makes this offering and on your murderous blood exacts his due.’

73 W.K.Lacey ‘The family in Classical Greece’ Thames & Hudson, London, 1978. Pages 45 on. 74 Virgil uses the word ‘condit’( condo condere condidi conditum) which has as one of its meanings the connotation of digging into the ground. Aeneas puts Turnus into the earth and also digs the foundation of a

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Aeneas is shown as an avenger, he delivers justice untouched by mercy, that of the lex talionis an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. He thunders at Turnus, ‘You and your plunder torn from one of mine, Shall I be robbed of you? 75

The ambivalence of this conclusion to the epic has attracted much comment. How can Virgil allow his hero to behave thus in the concluding lines of the poem, when he has painstakingly constructed Aeneas as the model of the ‘first’ Roman, a man who is no longer merely a bronze age warrior prey to his passions, but a statesman who obediently follows the dictates of duty?

There are several explanations which are compatible with the characteristics of the warrior/hero. The first is based on the requisites of duty (pietas) which Aeneas feels towards Evander, Pallas’ father. He owes it to the old man to avenge the death of a son whom Aeneas has allowed to fight an unequal contest with Turnus, champion warrior of the Rutulians.76 Secondly, there is the Homeric echo which Virgil’s audience would have expected, akin to hubris. Just as Achilles avenges the death of Patroklos, by killing his slayer Hector after defeating him in single combat, so does Aeneas,’boiling with rage’, take his revenge on Turnus in like manner.

Thirdly, Aeneas shows human frailty, succumbing to passion for one of very few times in the Aeneid. He is a monarch but he is also a man. The only other time he gives in to his emotions he verges on the contemptible, notably when he leaves his lover Dido behind in Carthage while he follows, albeit ‘invitus’, unwilling, the dictates of his duty. He obeys the will of the gods and sets sail for Italy. Virgil is somewhat guarded in his descriptions of Aeneas’s feelings for Dido in general, but the poet too is speechless at the farewell scene. After hearing an outpouring of emotion from Dido that would melt a heart of stone, the famous speech which begins with the words ‘Is it from me that you run away?

new era. There is no place in Roman epic for Turnus who has been compared to Achilles several times in the Aeneid. 75 Aeneid book 12 line 947 to the end. 76 Aeneid book 10 lines 507 to 605.

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(mene fugis?), Aeneas is left stammering while Dido is in a swoon with grief and loss. In the very next line 77 Virgil notes that Aeneas would like to comfort her but instead returns to the fleet and stolidly sets about preparing for his departure. Comforting women whom one has injured seems not to be regarded as a heroic quality!

Charles James Fox, in his introduction to an edition of the poem78, describes Aeneas as ‘always either insipid or odious’, citing that he introduces himself as a statement that he takes as smug and pretentious ‘sum pius Aeneas’s (I am the dutiful Aeneas) and referring to episodes in the narrative such as the two mentioned already. Many commentators refer to the contrast between the characterization of Aeneas and those of Turnus and even of Mezentius. Virgil depicts Turnus as the ‘classical’ Homeric hero of the Aeneid from the same mould as Hector and indeed compares him to Achilles on several occasions. This champion of the Rutulians is fighting to protect his homeland from foreign conquest and to keep the woman who has been promised to him in marriage, Lavinia. Turnus has most of the qualities of a bronze-age hero; he is physically strong, and courageous and fierce in combat. However, like Homeric warriors, he is prey to his ‘ira’ and ‘furor’, hot headed ardour and obdurate passion, both of which lead to ‘insania’, a madness when he takes leave of his senses and its concomitant resulting destruction. Turnus reacts to events with violence; he is like a lion with a spear in his side who stands and fights undaunted by the hunters who torment him.79

Turnus, when he faces Aeneas’s sword point, asks for reconciliation, concedes the hand of Lavinia and asks Aeneas not to stretch his hatred further. In reply, boiling with rage, Aeneas thrusts his sword into his foe’s chest up to the hilt

His limbs were loosened in the chill of death and his soul with a groan

77 Aeneid book 6 lines 305 to 400 78 Aeneid edited by Charles Fox, Modern Library of New York 1934.page 7.Another interpretation of this remark has been discussed earlier in this Chapter. 79 Aeneid book12 lines 5 to 10.

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fled complaining to the shades below80

Even the wording Virgil uses links Turnus to the Homeric warrior as ‘solvuntur membra’ (his limbs loosened) echo (λύτό γούνάτά lyto goyvata) and ον πότμον γούωσά (on potmon goyoosa) flying free his limbs used by Homer to describe the last moments of both Patroklos and Hector in the Iliad. In fact Homer used almost exactly the same words to describe the death of a hero, and Virgil virtually copies them,

Death cut him short. The end closed around him Flying free of his limbs His soul went winging down to the House of Death, Wailing his fate, leaving his manhood far behind, his young and supple strength. But glorious Hector taunted Patroklos’ body, dead though he was.81

There is no room for an individualist of the stamp of Turnus in the brave new world 82of Roman imperium which Aeneas is about to create.

Similarly, the despicable Mezentius, the tyrant allied to Turnus, one who is ‘hated by men and loathed by the gods’, is also superfluous to the new order. However, evil though he may be, Mezentius not portrayed entirely as without redeeming qualities. The Etruscans have justly rebelled against his cruelty as he is a man without ‘pietas’, compassion. Yet, at the conclusion of Book Ten83 Virgil paints for him a death scene worthy of the noblest Homeric hero. He is drawn with great compassion, when wounded and propped up beneath a tree, with his great beard covering his chest, he sends messengers to bring him news of his son, Lausus, in combat. When the youth’s body is brought back on a shield’ a mighty hero vanquished by a mighty wound’, Mezentius

80 Aeneid Book 12 final lines. 81 The death of both Hector and Patroklos is described in formulaic terms Homer the ‘Iliad’ book16 lines 1001 to 1015 and for Hector book 22 lines 425 to 431 see Chapter II 82 Title of a novel of a dysfunctional society by Aldous Huxley(1931). The words are from Miranda’s speech in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ Act V scene i ‘O brave new world that has such people in’t’. 83 Aeneid book 10 lines 856 to the end.

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seeks forgiveness for the evil deeds which have earned this divine retribution. He speaks to his old war horse and wounded as he is, mounts him for the last time to challenge Aeneas in single combat.

In that one heart together there surged a mighty tide of shame, madness and misery bleeding, love tormented by passion for revenge, and valour which knew itself true.

All these emotions are typical of the feelings of the bronze-age hero.

Mezentius charges his war horse at Aeneas, hurling javelins which fill his opponent’s shield with a forest of spears. Aeneas ‘took careful thought of what he should do’ and kills the horse. Pinned under the dead charger, Mezentius looks up at Aeneas, sword in hand who mocks him. In reply, Mezentius demands a proper burial and ‘deliberately gave his throat to the point and in waves of blood he scattered his life upon his armour and weapons’.

Virgil had a number of models for his hero taken from both Greek and Latin epic. The depiction of Aeneas, however, is not merely the continuation of that of the bronze-age warrior but in effect a replacement. He still retains the physical prowess as befits all warriors but he gains moral stature and thus becomes worthy of the ‘imperium’ (power to command) which is his destiny to exercise. In the Iliad, the figure of Aeneas is respected equally with that of Hector84 and his fights with Diomedes, Idomeneus an even with Achilles are described throughout the epic85 However, he is not particularly ‘heroic’, lacking great prowess and at times he is rescued from the fray and from certain death by the intervention of the gods 86 to whom he shows great respect. Unlike Achilles, who is

84 ‘Iliad’ book 5 line 467. 85 ‘Iliad’ books 5; 13; 20 respectively. 86 ‘Iliad’ Book 20 lines 298; 347.

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fated to die young but with everlasting glory, Aeneas has a future: Poseidon predicts that he will rule the Trojans87

Terracottas showing bas reliefs of Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius indicate that the Aeneas legend, including the Carthage episode were known in Etruria as early as 6th Century BCE

Gnaeus Naevius (270-201BCE) mentions him in his epic ‘Bellum Punicum’, a fictional account of the First Punic War (264-241BCE) as bringing the Penates (ancestral household gods) from Troy to Rome and as the founder of Lavinium, the leader of the Latin League.

Quintus Ennius (239-169BCE) a bilingual Calabrian, equally believed that epic poetry was the proper medium for celebrating heroic deeds and he applied the ‘Divine Apparatus’ of Greek epic to his ‘Annales’ which describe the arrival of Aeneas to Italy in Books I and II. This technique deals with ‘historical’ events which are removed in time from the writer who nevertheless writes in a contemporary way about these far off events, thus linking them with his audience. This is in keeping with the Homeric narratology of writing about Troy as if the events were occurring in the author’s time. Both of these poems exist only in very fragmentary form yet both contain references to heroic characters other than Aeneas. It is also significant that in 240B.C. E. the first translation into Latin of the Odyssey was published by Livius Andronicus. Only 45 lines of it are extant but its existence indicates that the audience for Greek heroic material, although literate in Greek, wanted to read these epics in its own language. This type of cultural hegemony is akin to Hollywood remaking ‘foreign’ films such as French ones into American English and conforming to American cultural patterns. Fabius Pictor’s History on the earliest days of Rome, written in about 200 BCE was in the language of learning, Greek, but when Cato the Elder published his ‘Origines’ in c.160 BCE, it was written in Latin, the language of the masters of the world.

87 ‘Iliad’ Book 20 lines 307 following.

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It is worthwhile to make a distinction between the mythological epic and the historical one although both types treat the heroic impulse as a central theme. The fantastic and the supernatural play a major part in the former. In the Iliad, there is a focus on an individual that allows limited scope for maturation. The audience responds positively when Achilles shows compassion at the end of the epic by returning the body of Hector to his father and by treating Priam with respect. However, this is not a spontaneous gesture on the part of Achilles, rather he responds to the old man’s courage and humility as he is prepared to embrace the knees of the man who slew his son in order to have Hector’s body returned to him for a proper burial.

A historical epic such as the Aeneid has greater scope to show the growth of the main character towards maturity as the focus is on several characters, thus providing room for contrast and comparison as in the examples of Mezentius and Turnus. They have heroic qualities even though they are treacherous and evil. They are doomed, however, because their world has changed and a new leader, forged thorough travail and sorrow is needed; in short, they are yesterday’s men. Epic heroism after Virgil is not simply defined in terms of physical excellence but rather in ethical and moral terms bound with the concept of duty to the community and to the gods.

Other later Latin writers used the apparatus of linking heroes of distant events to the gods as a means of providing added authority to the ruling class who claimed descent from these semidivine heroes of legend. This gave epic poetry its political strength, its links between literature and power. We have seen already this development in the works such as the Punica of Silius Italicus and the Pharsalia of Lucan.

One consistent characteristic of epic is its tone of voice that venerates ‘traditional values’ indeed expresses a longing for them. It was this didactic quality of Virgil’s works that supplanted the ‘Annales’ of Ennius as the epic of the nation of Rome. This is neatly explained in W.Y. Sellars’ seminal The Roman Poets of the Republic88 in which he writes

88 W.Y.Sellars ‘The Roman Poets of the Republic’ Oxford at the Clarendons Press 1095. page 22.

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‘The Iliad and the Odyssey are essentially epics of human life while the Aeneid is one of national glory’.

The audience of the Aeneid was longing for peace and stability after the slaughter of Romans by Romans in the civil wars. This combination of the human and the divine in shaping the affairs of men and thereby enlarging their world is echoed by Rosemary Sutcliff in the preface to The Golden Warrior. There she writes of the 11th Century Anglo Saxon saga which she compares with the Aeneid in terms of scope,

when I reached the last page …I found that the world around me seemed to be on a curiously small scale until I grew used to it again.89

The Aeneas depicted in the works of Virgil’s precursors lacks the stature of a statesman and does not go beyond the characteristics of the bronze-age warrior, with all the limitations of that type. Virgil’s Aeneas is not merely a destroyer of cities like his contemporary, Achilles, even though he does his fair share of damage. He has become an abstraction in which virtus (courage) and pietas (duty) combine. He is an animation of the heroic ghost of past epics but he also is regulated by Fate to do the biddings of the gods and to achieve the creation of a new homeland for the Trojan exiles at peace with the conquered peoples. It is these twists of chance that spice the plot and the quest is always

per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum (through checkered fortunes through so many perilous ways.) 90

The certainty of violent death in battle of which the hero is aware is used as a device for describing action. Virgil does it competently yet he is not a poet of the battle field and his descriptions of combat lack the graphic detail of his Greek models.

89 ‘The Golden Warrior’ by Hope Huntz, preface by Rosemary Sutcliff; Hodder and Stoughton 1966, London.

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Peter Toohey in his detailed discussion of epic91 noted that Virgil borrowed heroes also from Appolonius of Rhodes, the only other author in antiquity to feature a boat race in his works and to show admiration in an epic narrative for men as ‘sporting’ heroes. Not many of Virgil’s readers would have participated as oarsmen in a race but his descriptions of oar powered craft in full flight still evoke strong emotions of empathy in anyone who has ever strained at an oar.

In addition to depicting athletes as ‘heroes’ Virgil in his other works (principally in the Georgics92) showed the hero as ‘civilizer’. One of its ‘heroes’ is Orpheus, a man who can control nature through the power of his talents for music but who ultimately has no power over Death. Not even with the strength of his love can he free Eurydice from Hades.

Aristaeus,(the name means ‘close follower of the flock’) invents hunting, using nets to catch birds, producing olives from wild trees, curdling milk for cheese and the collection of honey from bees, all for the benefit of his ‘community’. When his bees die, it is his stubborn obedience to nature and his adherence to the advice from the gods that leads to the regeneration of his hives after he sacrifices the cattle to the wood nymphs and the bees spring forth again from the carcasses. Yet he too is flawed as a hero, as it is he who, by pursuing Eurydice causes her death by being bitten by a serpent.

While Eurydice whose chance of literally coming back from the dead is dashed by the impatience of Orpheus, her beloved, is Virgil’s most tragic heroine, it is Dido who has all the characteristics of a female hero.93

90 Aeneid Book 1 line 204. 91 Peter Toohey ‘Virgil and the Tradition of the hero’ Lecture at Sydney Grammar 4th September 2001 92 A volume on farming which contains the famous description of bee keeping with the comment, non solum mellificant apes, ‘not for themselves alone do the bees make honey’. Written approximately from 37BCE to 30 BCE these poems were partly designed to reinforce Augustus’ attempts to revive solid Roman virtues. It contains the oft quoted warning about civil strife at the time when in Rome ‘no due honour attends the plough, in the forge the curved pruning hook is made into a straight sword-impious war is raging.’ The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is in Book 4 lines 453 on. 93 Ήρωινη (heroine)

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She is the daughter of the King of Tyre and the widow of brave Sychaeus who has been murdered by Dido’s brother Pygmalion in order to usurp the throne. She flees with her followers to Libya and founds a city which will become Carthage. Virgil invented the legend of Dido to suit his purpose of showing the intensity of Aeneas’s pietas.

W.A. Camps94 notes that Virgil treats Dido like Turnus, a secondary hero: both are persons with heroic qualities, both are ultimately innocent, both are prey to furor and both have the sympathy of the audience.

Dido receives the refugees kindly and she is portrayed as a respected queen, with all the honours and trappings of royalty. Aeneas inspires feelings of love in Dido in Book II when he relates the fall of Troy and the loss of his wife, Creusa. Dido hears of how Aeneas ignores the warnings of the gods to flee, that all is lost. He repeatedly returned to the fight to look for Creusa. It is only when his mother Venus shows him that the gods are actually fighting against Troy and when Creusa’s ghost tells him that she is already dead that he takes up his father and son and gathering the survivors, escapes from the doomed city. Dido holds back her feelings because of her loyalty to her dead husband and to preserve her dignity and position as queen. Dido eventually is overcome by an obsessive love for Aeneas, inflicted on her by the irresistible will of the gods. Anna, her sister, provides the practical reasons for Dido marrying a warrior of Aeneas’s prowess. In the opening Book of the epic, Dido has already heard of Aeneas and when she meets him, her warmth goes to him because she too has lost her loved one and has been driven from her homeland.

Anoon her herte hath pitee of his wo And with that pitee, lov com in also.95

The circumstances of their first love making are also contrived by the gods. While out on a hunting expedition, they shelter from a storm in a cave, a union which is regarded by

94 W.A. Camps ‘An introduction to Virgil’s Aeneid.’ Oxford University Press 1969. Page 235.

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Dido as a marriage. Aeneas also behaves like her consort until reminded of his higher duty by Jupiter himself. He attempts to leave without telling her and this leads to a heartrending scene which ends with Dido’s blazing anger. Aeneas is ‘battered’ by Dido’s and Anna’s entreaties but ‘invitus’ (unwilling), he leaves as he must.’ His mind cannot be moved: the tears fall, useless.’

Dido moves from being aware of her rank and position as well as of her new love to an irate woman, confronting with ‘furor’ the man who has rejected her after acknowledging his love for her. Her confrontation is passionate and in her desperation she even uses Anna as a supplicant, in vain. R.G. Austin96 notes that Virgil portrays Dido as completely human, showing all the symptoms of growing love, her indecision, restlessness, sleepless nights, neglect of her duties. She is gradually transformed from a dutiful, competent woman full of Roman virtues to a Greek mad woman.

She regrets that her honour is gone ‘had I at least conceived a son within me’. Having Dido falling in love was a power game between the competing goddesses Juno and Venus, complete with a frivolous scene which includes Cupid. However, Dido’s suicide shows her strength of character; she has lost her self-respect as she had become a slave to her desire.

Her state of mind is revealed by Virgil’s description of her a she approaches the funeral pyre that she has assembled on the headland, to ensure that it would be seen by the departing Aeneas.

trembling with agitation, maddened by her horrific purpose Rolling her blood-shot eyes, her throbbing cheeks flushed, all pale with impending death

Her epitaph is that of a hero,

95 Caxton’s translation. In N.F. Blake‘Caxton’s Prose’, Language Library, Andre Deutsch London 1973.

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I have raised a glorious city, I myself have seen the walls built, I have avenged my husband and punished my brother for his evil deeds. I would have been happy, all too happy had not the Trojan ships landed on my shores.

She refers to Aeneas as ‘Dardanus oculis crudelis’, the Trojan with the cruel eyes, who watches from the deck of his ship as she stabs herself with his sword and dies on the pyre of their wedding bed.

When Aeneas meets Dido in Hades in the Lugentes Campi, the broken-hearted fields, he attempts to entreat with her she is silent ‘quam si dura silex aut ste Marpesia cautes’, as hard as flint and as cold as Marpesian marble97. Instead, she takes comfort from the shade of Sychaeus. As for Aeneas,

casu concussus iniquo Prosequitur lacrimis longe et miseratur euntem.98 (Overcome with emotion at her disastrous fate, with weeping eyes, he follows her for a long time, and pities her as she moves away.)

The very next line begins with the words, ‘he then moved along his destined journey.’ It is symbolic that Aeneas covers the body of the slain Pallas with one of the garments that Dido had made for him-laeta laborum-pleased with her work, stiff with embroidery in purple and gold.99

In Dido, Virgil has combined the qualities of a heroine of romance who dies for love when she is abandoned by her lover, with the hero of tragedy who cannot live dishonoured and who feels that only by death can this honour earned earlier can be

96 R.G. Austin ‘Virgil’s Aeneid Book IV, Introduction pages ix and x and passim, in the Complete Aeneid series, Oxford University Press 1987. Also Book 4 lines 74-89. 97 Aeneid Book 4 line 471. 98 Aeneid Book 6 line 475-476 99 Aeneid Book 11 line 73

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preserved. R.G. Austin states this elegantly, ‘If Virgil had written nothing else….it would have established his right to stand besides the greatest of the Greek tragedians.’100

Certainly, Dido is the model for Seneca’s Phaedra and Medea and for all women scorned. In Ovid’s Heroides101is a fictional letter from Dido to Aeneas trying to persuade him to stay ‘with one who is ablaze with love like torches of wax dipped in sulphur’. Uror ut inducto ceratae sulpure taedae.’

In contrast, Lavinia, who marries Aeneas at the end of his quest, does not speak. It has been noted that the audience sees her react to various situations that she is involved in, she blushes, weeps, is traumatized by the horrors that she witnesses. Her beauty is described and she is shown as loving and patient, the typical woman of epic. The lasting image of Lavinia for the audience is when she is leading the mourners after the death of Amata, a mute mirror reflecting the actions of others.

Richard Jenkins102 has reminded us that epics were read primarily for entertainment by upper class males. They were also widely recited by professional rhapsodes and actors for the benefits of the population at large which was illiterate. Thus the epics received a wider distribution for social and political purpose with the result that accepted role models were reinforced. Those in authority saw these models of heroic behaviour as validating their own power and giving legitimacy to their actions. The lower classes understood why they were ruled by aristocrats (a Greek word meaning ‘ rule by the best men’).This followed a time-honoured tradition established in Greece, where during religious festivals, performances of tragedies were held as didactic activities to compliment the public recitations of epics. Male citizens (women and foreign born males were disenfranchised) were required to attend performances and if they could not afford the cost of entry, the City State paid the cost of admission. The plays showed through the presentation of action the consequences of a particular deed, how the gods became

100 R.G.Austin Aeneid Book IV’ op.cit. supra. 101 Ovid (43 BCE-17 C.E.) ‘Heroides’ 7.3-44 Volume I Loeb Classics number 41 1977.The first ‘letter’ is from Penelope to Ulysses 102 Richard Jenkins ‘Classical epic; Homer and Virgil’ Bristol Classical Press 1992

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displeased, how the guilty were punished and how authority was to be respected. For similar purposes the Aeneid become a ‘set text’ for Roman schoolboys during the reign of Tiberius.103

stababant pueri eum totus decolor esset Flaccus et haerenet nigro fuligino Maroni (You have students in your class pouring over the faded works of Horace or the soot-besmirched Virgil.)

Similarly, the Iliad has a strong didactic flavour; one of the concepts explored is that of obedience to authority. Is Achilles wrong in refusing to fight because he has been shamed by Agamemnon? Is Agamemnon wrong in depriving a hero of a trophy won in combat? Other episodes deal with the culture of shame that defined the life of heroes in the patriarchal societies of Greece, of Rome and as will be seen later, in the age of chivalry.

It is this concept of shame which induces the hero to fight, to validate the esteem in which he is held by his peers and secondly to gain a measure of glory which will outlast his own life. These also motivate a hero such as Sarpedon104 who explains his reasons for leading an assault on the Greek wall.105 His cries of encouragement for any stragglers among his men spurs on their war-lust, they come on ‘thick and fast as the snow that falls on a winter dawn’. The heroic impulse for violent combat is accompanied by anger, personal ambition and a desire for revenge. Achilles runs amok in the Scamander River106and we see Aeneas in a fury of blood lust throughout Book Ten of the Aeneid. Yet, Aeneas is also shown to have compassion and admiration for a foe’s courage. Although he kills the young Lausus, he does not despoil the body of its armour and he undertakes to return the boy’s ashes to his father with full honours.

103 Juvenal and Persius ‘Satires’ Loeb Classics Number L091. ‘Satires’Book III, satire vii lines226-227. 104 Sarpedon was the commander of the Lycian contingent of Priam’s allies (‘Iliad’ book 2 lines 876 on) His assault on the Greek fortifications is described in ‘Iliad’ book 12 lines 101 following. He is killed by Patroklos (’Iliad’ book 16 lines 426 following) and mourned by his father Zeus (lines 456 on). He is carried back to his homeland for burial by Sleep and Death. 105 ‘Iliad’ book 12 lines 310-328. 106 ‘Iliad’ book 21 passim.

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The hero has superior social status, physical size and prowess with weapons, he has the ability to lead men into mortal combat and his reputation (fama) is all important. The long quests provide him with the opportunity for maturation, a preparation for the time when he must assume the reins of ‘imperium’, command, in his community. The Aeneas who will marry Lavinia and who brings peace to the Immortal Gods themselves is very different to the person who, in Book Two, blindly seeks death in futile resistance to the Greeks who are sacking Troy.

It is the qualities acquired during the wanderings that bring about the process of maturation. Peter Toohey107 refers to the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh as showing parallels with both the Odyssey and the Iliad for when its hero takes on the role of statesman, he also takes on that of husband and father.

Pay heed to the little one who holds onto thy hand, Let your spouse delight in thy bosom. For this is The task of mankind. Tablet 10

Aeneas knows that he must win the war but also win the peace that follows and he achieves this in accordance with Jupiter’s plan. There will be no more ‘Trojans’ but they will intermarry with the Latini to start a new people, Italians. This action will also placate Juno’s once implacable hatred for the Trojans. Aeneas also vows that the new race will pay special homage to Juno.

The description that has already been mention earlier of Aeneas in the beginning of the epic, applies equally to his heroic ‘successor’ Arthur. He is also foremost among men in righteousness and in skills with weapons, but he does not possess the qualities Aeneas has at being successful as a father and in choosing the right wife. Aeneas follows the will of the gods and not of his desires in abandoning Dido. Arthur, in spite of Merlin’s

107 ‘What was an epic hero?’ Peter Toohey pages 33 to 40 in ‘Antichton’ 1990, Australian Society for Classical Studies.

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warnings, marries Guinevere because ‘his blood was hot’ for her. Ascanius emulates his father and carries on his mission; Mordred destroys all that his father has created.

It is the moral ambiguity of the hero, his capacity for deeds of arms but most of all, his ability to accept change and to control it that gives narrative force to heroic tales. Subsequent epics show essentially the same man in different guises, reproducing the accepted concept of patriarchal masculinity with very little deviation from ‘type’. Physical settings and contexts change but the desire of the audience for the reassurance that only epic heroes provide is timeless. Peter Toohey reminds us that it was the German philosopher Nietzsche who wrote that Western culture had a great longing for great acts combined with a sense of their irrelevance. All that remains for the hero is kleos aphthiton ( κλεος άφθιτον ) everlasting glory, or as Virgil puts it,

Stat sua cuique dies Breve et irreparabile tempus Omnibus est vitae, sed famam extendere factis’ Hoc virtutis opus. (Everyman’s last day is fixed. Life is brief for all and time cannot be mended so we must enlarge our reputation with good deeds. This is the work of the brave.)108

Heroism continues to enchant because no one wants to be less than it is possible to be.

108 Aeneid Bk.10 lines 467-469.

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Part B: The Matter of Arthur Aeneas is now ready to become the basis for a Christian hero, Arthur. In following the character of the hero through time and through various settings, it is noticeable that the essence of the character remains remarkably constant. In the matter of Britain, the Celtic legends and the ‘Breton’ chanson de geste, tales of action, all predicated on classical models, the epic becomes overlaid with Christian ethics yet retains the supernatural and the magic as commonplace and all the superstitions of portents and the dictates of Fate remain. So does the quest, only it is often undertaken as the result of a crisis of inner fortitude or of physical prowess on the part of the hero. The Arthurian hero needs to seek redemption not simply glory in passage of arms. For the audience, the themes recur with comforting regularity and are found also in Anglo Saxon epics such as ‘Widsith’109 and Beowulf110 : the treasure giving; the need for a ruler; the requirement to live ‘fittingly’ with fealty and loyalty to a just authority; the rôle of Fate (wyrd) and Ruin (ruina); the need to avenge a blood feud and most of all the love of the thrill of battle. Just as agape, manly devotion, binds Greek classical heroes so do the bonds of ’Fellowship’ link the mediaeval knights to one another.

One important source of heroic material for mediaeval writers is the Bible, particularly the Old Testament. The models of King David, physically imposing and handsome and of the warrior King Joshua are two of many that fired the imagination of heroic writers. There is no evidence that Jesus was seen as a historical and secular role model but he meets all the requirements of a classical hero, were he a character in fiction; he is semi divine (one ‘earthly’ parent), physically impressive and strong; he grows in obscurity though there are instances of remarkable deeds (the disputation with the scholars and the miracle at Cana); he has a mentor and suffers the agony of abandonment and loneliness

109 ‘Widsith’ means ’far journey’. It is an Old English fragment of some 144 lines composed in 9thC but recorded in the Exeter Book in the late10thC. In format it conforms to the oral tradition of tale singing and it is largely a catalogue of kings and heroes, including a reference to ’Caesar ruled the Greeks’. It reminds listeners to be aware of the fame offered by poets to those who are ‘discerning of songs’. It is significant because it makes the first mention of 'Vikings’ by name. ‘AngloSaxon Poetry and anthology of Old English poems’ ed s. A.J. Bradley, London, Dent 1982. 110 ‘Beowulf’ is also an Anglo Saxon oral tale singing composition of c.800 C.E. but as it was not available to literary audiences until 1815; it is given some treatment below in the section of this study dealing with the Victorian revival of the Arthurian material.

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as in the garden at Gethsemane; has the capacity for righteous indignation and violent action such as when he drove the money lenders from the Temple; his life and sufferings redeem his ‘community’ and his death is accompanied by natural phenomena.

The Christian motif is an important addition to the warrior/statesman model such as Aeneas. The classical aristocratic war chief becomes the mounted Christian knight of mediaeval epic, the epitome of the professional man-at-arms.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340c.-1400) could have used the same words were he describing Aeneas as those he used for his own heroic knight in the Prologue of ‘The Canterbury Tales’, ‘He was a verray parfit gentil knyght’.

The tale which the Knight tells is ‘a noble storie and worthy for to drawen to memorie’as it deals with Greek heroes waging war in far off lands and far off times yet behaving in many ways like contemporary men. However, it is the redoubtable Wyf of Bath who tells the tale of a ‘lusty bacheler’ who is one of Arthur’s knights.

In th’ olden dayes of Kyng Arthour Of which the Britons speken greet honour Al was this land fulfild of fairye.111

The literature dealing with Arthur is extensive. It could be argued that there are several ‘King Arthur’, that of legend, of literature, of fiction and possibly that of history. In all of his manifestations he is the symbol of a Christian ruler, of a national monarch, of a warrior of the golden age of nostalgia which is the very marrow of epic. Aeneas the ‘statesman’ is mirrored in Arthur as battle captain, as unifier of a realm and as Dux/Rex but also as a man of flesh and blood with all earthly imperfections.

111 ‘The Canterbury Tales’ Geoffrey Chaucer, Oxford Standard Authors 1964. a)Prologue line 72 b) Wyf of Bath’s Tale lines 856 to 859.

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The most persistent speculation among folklorists about the name Arthur is that it is derived from the Latin Artorius, possibly suggested by an early Roman leader in Gaul. Folklorists suggest further Celtic connections, for example, they see the Grail motif as a version of the Celtic ‘cauldron of plenty’ itself a version of the GraecoRoman cornucopia.

Arthur was generally accepted as ‘real’ in England, though less so on the Continent where lack of evidence about his supposed conquests, especially over the Roman Emperor Lucius, was referred to frequently. John Hardyng, in the 15th Century chronicle the Stanzaic Morte Arthur, is the only writer apart from Malory to claim that Arthur was crowned Emperor of Rome after his successful campaign against Lucius. On the other hand, the Polychronicon written in Latin by the German monk Ranulph Higden and translated into English by John of Trevisa in about 1387, acknowledges Arthur as a folk hero, but expresses reservations about his veracity. Giovanni Boccaccio, whose ‘Decamerone’ was the inspiration and model for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in his ‘De Casu Principum’ (On the fall of Princes) translated into English in 1360 by John Lydgate, refers with admiration to Arthur’s war exploits but warns that he is not to be a followed as a moral example.

‘Arthur’ appears as a personal Christian name from about the 12th Century. There is a Court record dated early in that Century of a fracas that ensued between a local man in Cornwall and the servant of a visiting ecclesiastical dignitary as to whether Arthur was still alive.112 Arthur stories abound in romances, ballads and popular literature from the early 6th Century. In an attempt to disentangle the skein of material that eventually ended up in Malory’s work, it is worthwhile listing these works in chronological order.113

Arthur is referred to as a popular hero in the poem dealing with recent British history Gododin (circa 600A.D.) of the Welsh writer Gildas (approx. 540 A.D.) The Chronicles of Nennius (c. 800) list twelve battles fought by Arthur against the rampaging Saxons and

112 ‘Morte DArthur’ Introduction by Helen Cooper Oxford University Press 1999 pages 23. 113 See Appendix

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Arthur is personally credited with slaying 960 of the enemy, a very precise body count. In the ‘Annales Cambriae’ ( dated probably 955 but the surviving text is the Harleian manuscript of about 1100) there is the account in Latin of the Battle of Badon against the Saxons. Arthur is no longer the ‘last of the Romans’ holding back the tide of invasion after the departure of the Roman legions, but a Christian King who wears a Cross on his shield and who prays for victory while carrying a Cross for three days and nights. The ‘Annales Cambriae’ also record as fact that Arthur and the traitor Mordred fell at the Battle of Camlan in 537. In this account, Mordred is Arthur’s nephew who attempts to usurp the throne while Arthur is campaigning on the Continent.

There is a brief mention of Arthur in the 10th Century Welsh verse epic The Spoils of Annwn but the earliest version of the Arthur story is the (circa 1000) Kulhwch ac Olwen contained in the Mabinogion. While this is the first fully fledged Arthurian romance, it is most unlikely that it was known to Malory as it was not translated into English until 1839. This Welsh epic was most probably composed orally and subsequently recorded on parchment as the setting and customs described are from an earlier time than 11th Century which is the date of the manuscript. The third grouping contains three Arthurian romances; The Lady of the Fountain (similar to the Story of Yvain); Peredur son of Efrawg, an early Percival story of a penniless knight of great valour; Gerait son of Erbin similar to the Gareth tale in Malory

Arthur receives a substantial mention in William of Malmesbury’s ‘Gesta Regum Anglorum’ (Deeds of the King of the Britons) c.1120-1128. However, it is the Latin History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey (Galfridus) of Monmouth (c. 1136) that shows Arthur for the first time as a national hero. Geoffrey provides Arthur with a biography that remained current until that of Holinshed in the 16th Century. Geoffrey claims to have based his History on ancient books in English that were lent to him but researches have so far been unable to prove the existence of these books. The work contains all the characters and places associated with the Arthur story: Guinevere, Mordred, Gawain, Merlin and Avalon. Arthur is a conqueror both within Britain and on the Continent and he is supported by a Fellowship of knights, notably Gawain and Kay.

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Geoffrey emphasizes the Trojan origin of Britons by linking this name with that of Brutus as the mythical ancestor of the ‘British’. Brutus is the great grandson of Aeneas and after many adventures lands in Britain. He has three sons with the very Britannic names of Albanact, Camber and Locrine.114

At this point, the Matter of Britain becomes the Matter of the Bretons as the Celtic material is taken across the Channel to France. The Norman Wace in 1155 changed Geoffrey’s Latin text into a French verse chronicle, the ‘Roman de Brut’ the tale of Brutus. Chivalry in all its glory is introduced as is the Round Table. There is a ‘romantic’ Courtly Love tone to the relationships between men and women and there is also a strong Christian message though with magical undertones. Avalon is the place that heals the wounds of the King so that he can return again. Arthur is thus linked indirectly to the Resurrection story and so becomes the once and future king.

The French Arthurian romances of Chrétien de Troyes (written between 1170-1191) unified all the Arthur legends into a new verse narrative form.115 The stories are episodic and deal with individual knights. The Courtly Love motif is given full rein and Lancelot is introduced into the Arthurian canon with the tale of the wondrous knight who supplants Gawain in prowess and who falls in love with the King’s wife, Guinevere. She is drawn in considerable detail as a character in her own right and not simply an adjunct of Arthur. This development possibly reflects the growing number of female readers of ‘romances’ at this time.

In approximately 1200, an English priest named Layamon wrote The Brut based on Wace’s chronicle making his work the first version of the Arthur story in English. It is an exotic mix of Celtic folklore and Norman elegance. It takes ‘British’ history to the end of 689 from the founding of Britain by Brute. It also contains stories of other Kings of Britain including that of King Leir (Lear). Layamon show a very civilized Court and

114 ‘Arthur King of Britain’ edited by Richard L. Brengle; Appleton-Century-Croft 1964,New York, passim references to’Gododin’;’Chronicles of Nennius’;’Annales Cambriae’;’Kulhwuch ac Olwen’;’Gesta Regum Anglorum’ and ‘History of the Kings of Britain’. 115 ‘French Romances’ by Chrétien de Troyes. Everyman Library no. 698, London, 1968.

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contains descriptions of Arthur’s wedding (as does Wace’s work) and of Christmas festivities.

Wel becommes such craft upon Cristmasse Laykyng of enterludes to laghe and to syng Among thire kynde caroles of knyghtes and ladyes116

As early as 1170, a chronicler refers to the Crusaders taking the Tale of Arthur to the Holy land. ‘The flying fame has spread and made familiar the name of Arthur the Briton ever as far as the Empire of Christendom extends.’ 117 Dante expressed his admiration for Arthur. The continuing appeal lies with the fact that the origin, accuracy and even the veracity of these Tales are the subject of debate and are shrouded in bewildering obscurity, thus each age can place its own interpretation on the thematic material and on the hero. Recent scholarship, for example, has offered arcane symbolism and structural subtleties as affording the true explanations of the eccentricities of Arthurian Romance, and there is no author in this vast region of literature whose character, originality and intentions are not subject to debate. 118

It was the writings of Chrétien de Troyes, however, that started the fashion for Arthurian material and the French romances were translated into Portuguese, Italian, German and even into Hebrew. Chrétien was attached to the Court of Henry of Champagne, the husband of Marie of Aquitaine who was Chrétien’s patron and for whose pleasure he wrote his tales of romance and chivalry. It was Chrétien who created Camelot, Lancelot and the grail Quest, connecting it with Perceval and the Fisher King. He also had Lancelot rescue Guinevere after she had been kidnapped by the evil and brutish Sir Mellygaunt who desired her. It was Chrétien who devised the tale of the Knight Of the Cart wherein Lancelot comes to the aid of Guinevere in this ‘unknightly’ manner. All this material was embellished by Malory. Similarly, Malory incorporated into the Morte the

116 ‘The Brut’ by Layamon in ‘Arthur King of Britain’ op.cit. supra, page 133. 117 Alan Lupack ‘The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend.’ Oxford University Press 2005.

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love story of Tristram and Isolde, originally found in non Arthurian works of Chrétien which also included Erec et Enide, Yvain and Cliges. ‘Malory ’reduced’ these French texts blending the majesty of epic eloquence with the freshness of living speech.’119

During the century following Chrétien, there appeared more than 150 stories about Arthur, mostly in French, but also in German, most notably Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, whose story was used by Wagner for the eponymous opera.120 It was Lancelot rather than Arthur who was the hero of the French Vulgate Cycle, perhaps for ‘patriotic ‘reasons, with almost 70,000 words, about half of the Cycle, devoted to his exploits.

The Arthur legend fired the collective imagination of European culture as it was used to elaborate major issues of the day, such as the taking of the Holy land, the purging of Jerusalem of ‘Heathens’, almost as a sort of justification for the barbarity of the Crusades. It is interesting to compare these passages of arms with those describing the fighting style of the warriors of the Old Testament. These Hebrew heroes fight not as individual adventurers but as national deliverers and they are as ruthless and as implacable as the Christian knights.121

A connected series of the prose version of these romances, appearing around 1215 and 1225 and written by different hands is referred to as the Vulgate Cycle. It covered the history of the Round Table from the Grail legend to Arthur’s death and mentions Mordred for the first time not as Arthur’s nephew but as his son conceived through an

118 Sherman Loomis op.cit. supra page14. A more complete treatment of current scholarship on the Arthur/Lancelot hero is presented in Chapter VIII of this study. The comment made by Loomis about the Arthurian epic can apply equally to Homeric material. 119 Loomis op.cit. supra page 176 120 The first printed Arthurian book, the ‘Tristam’ was released in Ausburg in 1484 by Anton Sorg. The movable type, first used in Europe by Gutenberg to print the Bible in 1455, coincided with the rise of an educated urban ‘middle class’ who had money aa well as an appetite and space for books in their own homes. This enabled reading to become a private as well as a social activity as books were no longer chained to benches in monasteries and were no longer mostly about matters of theology. 121 Robert Graves Introduction to the edition by Keith Baines of the ‘Morte DArthur’ George G. Harrap &Co. Ltd. London 1962. Graves believed that Arthur of fiction was based on Arturius, a Romanized Briton and heroic cavalry commander who in 517.C.E. defeated Saxon invaders and their Pict allies at the Battle of Mount Badon.

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incestuous relation. Other characteristics which typify the Cycle and link it with the heroic tradition include the Divine retribution for sexual transgressions and for sins against ‘authority’ which bring about the end of the Round Table. Also, the failure by the knights to attain Christian perfection is contrasted with the purity of the Grail knights who are warriors for God. This concept was also associated with the monastic military orders initially connected with the Crusades such as the Templars, Hospitalers, Teutonic Knights and the Knights of Saint James. Possibly for reasons of ‘national’ pride, Galahad replaces Perceval, who is Welsh, as the Grail hero of the Cycle. However, the choice of Galahad also introduces the concept of redemption as Galahad by attaining the Grail ‘redeems’ the shame of his father Lancelot. Tristan and Isolde are also drawn into the Arthur story, even though it is really a ‘stand alone’ Courtly Love romance. Tristan becomes the only knight in medieval romance to equal Lancelot in prowess and popularity. In 1210 Tristan appeared in German, by Gottfried von Strassburg, the same year that the Parzifal of Wolfram von Eschenbach another ‘Arthur’ tale was published.

Another work of interest was The gest Hystoriale of the destruction of Troy of 1375 which consolidated the fall of Troy as the most popular subject for epic mediaeval history. It was Hector who was regarded as the popular hero of the mediaeval retelling of the Iliad. The flight of Aeneas carrying his father and leading his little son by the hand was also a familiar and recurring vignette.

The appearance in 1390 of the anonymous Alliterative Morte Arthure saw the Arthur story once more in epic style verse only this time in English. Gawain of the Green Knight ‘fame’, is clearly the hero. In addition to the Green Knight story, some eleven epics exist about him in English. His death is the most important to the story line that shows great affinity with Beowulf. Significantly, Arthur is carried to Glastonbury Abbey for a Christian burial. Composed at about the same time is the Stanzaic Morte Arthur a translation into English verse of selections from the French prose Romances. By the 15th Century the English fashion dictated that prose was suitable for tragedy while Romances or epics tales of deeds of arms had to be presented in verse. Thus, all of Malory’s English sources are in verse. His French sources were a couple of hundred years old by his time,

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the 1460’s, but they, like the cult of chivalry, were enjoying renewed popularity and were freely available. How Malory obtained these books while he was in prison is a matter for conjecture. After about the middle of the 16th Century, taste changed in France and the Romances were no longer printed.

It is speculated by Christina Hardyment122 that Malory had read the Monitory Poems dealing with the unpredictability of life and imminence of death which also referred to the Grail quest. Given Malory’s own circumstances these words may well have appealed to him

Thow seis thi sampil everilk day And thou tak heid withouyen les (lies) Quhow some that yowt may pas away For bald (bold) Hector and Achilles And Alexander, the prowd in pres (valiant in the thick of battle) Hes (God) tarie thare lief and mony ma (more) That ded hes drawyne one til his des (Dias,judgement seat) Memor esto novissima123.

The Wars of the Roses124 which were so devastating personally for Malory have many such poems dealing with the heroic concept of ‘ubi sunt’ where have all the great men gone, from a Yorkist point of view but only one Lancastrian one, a lament for the soul of Edward IV which begins ‘I have pleyed my pagent and now I am past’

122Christina Hardyment ‘Malory, the life and times of King Arthur’s Chronicler’. Harper Collins London 2005 123 ‘Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose’ Monitory Poems ed. By Kenneth Sisam O.U.P. 1964 ‘Remember the last things,’-last line. 124 The civil war was marked by treachery and duplicity on both sides and lasted from 1445 till 1487, although it was all over effectively after Henry Tudor Killed Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. The York House was. the White Rose and the Lancaster was the Red. In reality, the combatants wore the badges of their Masters, it was Sir Walter Scott who used the terms of coloured roses, based on an earlier reference in Shakespeare.

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Sir Thomas Malory released the manuscript version of the ‘Morte Darthur’ in 1469 or 1470. However, it was the printing of this work by William Caxton in 1485 (Malory died in 1470) that ensured that Arthur remains the rex quondam et rex futurus for all time. Subsequently the Morte was reprinted numerous times.125 The definitive scholarly version is the one edited by Eugene Vinaver after the discovery of the Winchester College manuscript version of the Morte. Until that time, all editions of Malory’s work were based on the Caxton version.

Just as there is a mystery surrounding the identity of the ‘real’ Arthur, equally there is a mystery about which of the several ‘Malory’ of history is the ‘real’ author of the Morte. This study holds with the widely accepted identity which follows the biography of Malory written by Christina Hardyment.

Sir Thomas Malory is well summed up by the epithet ‘ill framed knight’ used as a book title by William Matthews126. He was probably Lord of the Manor of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire, born there in 1420 or thereabouts, knighted in 1441 and most probably campaigned in France in the concluding days of the Hundred Years War in the retinue of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwickshire. Readers of the Morte are struck by the irony of the characters as they are the very opposite to what Malory was himself in reality.

After 1450, he goes wild. He commits a series of crimes of violence and suffers a long imprisonment for them. They include attempted assassination of the influential Duke of Buckingham, causing grievous bodily harm, cattle rustling, extortion and raping the same woman, Joan Smith, on two separate occasions. The indictment states, ‘cum ea carnalities’, to know her carnally. The word ‘rape’ from ‘rapier’, to take by force was used as a ‘face saving’ device to shield the reputation of the families of women who had engaged in extramarital relations once these were made public. The accusation was brought by Thomas Smith, whom Malory had kidnapped, wounded and imprisoned in 1443, a case which was dismissed. In 1451 Malory forces his way into the Abbey of

125 See Chapter VI of this study on the Victorian revival for a chronology of the major editions of the ‘Morte’.

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Coombe by smashing down the front gate and then attacking the Abbot, tormenting the monks and trashing the Abbey’s main hall.

In 1452 he goes to prison and remains there pretty much until the Lancastrians return to power and free all their supporters, including him. He dies six months later and is buried at Greyfriars Newgate, one of the most fashionable churches of the day.

It is likely that the accusations were politically motivated as Malory was always trying to be on the winning side in a conflict where sides changed very frequently and where yesterday’s friends were today’s foes. He escaped twice, once with the violent use of weapons and the second time by swimming the moat of the prison. A large force of some thirty armed men eventually recaptured him and his gaolers were threatened with record breaking punishments and prison terms should he escape again. Malory was exempted by name from receiving an amnesty in two separate Royal Pardons. Several comments throughout the text confirm that the Morte was written in gaol as a prisoner of King Edward IV. Malory writes the following lines without any trace of irony,

What?’ sayde Sir Lancelot,’ Is he a theff and a knyght? And a ravyssher of women? He doth shame unto the order of knyghtode and contrary unto his oth. Hit is pyte that he lyvyth.127

The chaos of 15th Century England, the weakness of King Henry IV, led to civil conflict known as the ’War of the Roses’ between the Houses of Lancaster and York, with much swapping of sides by the Barons. Malory’s work has strong elements of nostalgia but there are numerous points of intersection with his own era. The wording for the Oath of Knighthood which he uses is modeled closely on that of the Knights of the Bath. The Order of the Knights of the Garter was established by King Edward III in the middle of the 14th century in conscious imitation of the ideals of the Round Table. Even the badge

126 ‘The ill framed knight’ William Matthews, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1966. 127 ‘Morte DArthur’ Sir Thomas Malory Oxford Standard Authors, 1964. Book vii line17 page 94.A comment on Malory’s name is of interest. ‘It is not unlikely that the name has its origins in the Old French

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and motto, tradition has it, are the result of protection of ‘a damsel in distress’. Edward picked up a garter that had been dropped by the Lady with whom he was dancing and returned it to her. To quiet the laughter that ensued, he placed the garter on his own leg and rebuked those present by saying the words which became the Order’s motto ‘honi soit qui mal y pense’ (shame to anyone who thinks badly about this act).

The Round Table which is on display at Winchester’s Great hall was probably built by King Edward I in the late 13th century. It has 24 names inscribed around it, whereas the Table in Malory’s story has room for 150 knights; it was built by Guinevere’s father and given to Arthur as a wedding present.

Malory combines, collects and abbreviates all the key 13th century French prose romances, many of which were themselves based on earlier verse originals. He supplemented these with English Arthurian material, especially with Geoffrey of Monmoth’s work. The greatness of Malory lies in the way he has channeled all the important Arthurian legends into one source, he has in effect, written an ‘Arthuriad’ an epic of Arthur.

Whatever may have existed of a code of chivalry as described in the Morte had long gone by Malory’s lifetime. He returns in his imagination to the time when chivalry was in flower and he writes with longing about the Court, the protocols, the pageants and the heroes who walked the land of England. Reality scarcely intrudes in the Morte. He scarcely mentions ordinary people and then only with annoyance. When a carter refuses to go out of his way in order to transport Lancelot to a castle, the angry Lancelot strikes him so hard with his gauntlet that ‘he felle to the erthe starke dede’128.

verb-orer to frame, to surround and that Maloret was a nick name meaning ‘ill framed’ or ill set’. Eugene Vinaver’ Malory’ O.U.P. 1929. 128 ‘MorteDArthur’ by Sir Thomas Malory Oxford Standard Authors 1964 book vii line 27 page 49. It needs to be noted that the carter was a serf of the Lord of the castle being sought by Lancelot with a view to attacking its owner.

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Brawn is better than brains. When Arthur asks his knights for advice on the best way to best an enemy in combat ‘they could no cuonceil gyve but said they were bygge ynough’129

The hero is referred to as noble; worshipful; worthy while his opponent is shameful; false; traitorous; recreant. Malory’s tombstone in the Chapel of St. Francis at Grey Friars in London at least refers to him as a valiant soldier,

Thomas Mallere valens miles Ob 14 March 1470 De parochia de Monken Kyrby in comitatu Warwici130

In the words of H.S.Bennet131 ‘Malory remains as a beautiful lake, cut off from the outer world, besides whose waters men have found rest and refreshment from his day to ours.’ William Caxton’s own nostalgia for decayed chivalry led to the printing of the Morte on 31st July 1485 about a year after the publication of Caxton’s own Order of Chyvalry. The colophon describes the Morte as ‘thys noble and Joyous book entytled le morte Darthur…reduced into englysshe by syr Thomas Malory knyght’. In the Preface, Caxton gives a reason for printing this ‘book of the noble and vyctoryous Kyng Arthur’,

that noble men may see and lerne the noble acts of chyvalrye by whyche they come to honour For herein may be seen noble chivalrye Curtosye/humanyte/frenlynesse/hardyness/love.132

129 ‘MorteDarthur’op cit supra book xix line 13 page 654. 130 ‘Thomas Malory worthy soldier died 14th March 1470 in the parish of Monk’s Kirby, county of Warwick.’ 131 Chaucer and the Fifteenth century’ H.S. Bennett page 203 O.U.P. 1963 132 ‘Preface’ to the ‘MorteDArthur’ by William Caxton in ‘Caxton’s Prose’ by N.F. Blake Language Library Andre Deutsch 1973, London(page 109 and 110)

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The Wars of the Roses ended with the death of Richard III on Bosworth Field in 1485. The victor, Henry Tudor, cleverly manipulated the heroic tradition in the Matter of Arthur to shore up Welsh support for the bid for the Crown of England. He posed as the long awaited ‘Second Owain’ or in the words of Malory

yet some men say in many partys of Inglonde that King Arthur is not dead and will come again133

The identification of antiquity with English realpolitic became complete when Henry Tudor unfurled the Red Dragon banner of Arthur in Wales one week after Caxton published the Morte in London. One week after that, after defeating Richard III at Bosworth Field, Henry the adventurer became Henry VII King of England. Henry, who was a posthumous child born of a 13 year old mother, was brought up by various mentors and spent most of his life in obscurity in exile in France. To help shore up his tenuous claims to the throne that he had wrested by force of arms from Richard III, Henry stage managed the birth of his first child to occur at Westminster, the site of the Round Table and he named his first born son and heir ‘Arthur’.

133 ‘Morte DArthur’ op.cit.supra book xxi line 29 to 35 page 717.

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CHAPTER V

From King to Gentle: conflict between the hero and the king.

Arthur and Lancelot in the Morte Darthur.

And for to passe the tyme thys book shal be plesaunte to rede in but for to gyve faith and byleve that al is trewe that is contyned herin, ye be at your lyberté.1

Though the two men never met, William Caxton and Sir Thomas Malory seemed destined for each other. Caxton, the first English commercial printer, was nostalgic for the golden age of chivalry, he thirsted for epics in which heroes acted for the common good and not as he believed of his time when everyone was out for himself. He regarded the printed word was a powerful tool as he quotes from Scripture, ‘ the apostle saith all that is wreton is wreton to our doctryne’2.This sentiment first appears in the Epilogue to The History of Troy which he published in 1469/1471 as a translation from the French source of ‘Raoul Le Fevre, preest’. Caxton also had a sense of justice, of setting the record straight as far as the history of Troy was concerned ‘For Dictes and Homerus as Grekes, sayn and wryten favourably for the Grekes and gyve to them more worship than to the Trojans’3 especially regarding Hector (one of Caxton’s ‘Worthies’) and Aeneas.

While he was in Bruges, with the impressive title of ‘Governor of the English nation of Merchant Adventurers in the Low Countries’ Caxton translated the Gest Hystoriale de la Destruction de Troye (composed in 1375) and printed in English in 1474. This work was a free rendering of the Historia Troyana finished in 1287 by Guido de Columna in Terranova, Kingdom of Sicily, the cradle of Norman-Italian literature. In this work, Homer is despised as a teller of improbable tales and as partisan towards the Greeks.

1 ‘Caxton’s Prose’ N F Blake, Language Library, Andre Deutsch 1973, London, P 109, Line 115-116. 2 The New Testament, Romans 15, Verse 4. 3 ‘Caxton’s Prose’ op cit. page 100, lines 27-30.

207 Guido makes Hector the hero of his tale. It is most likely that Benoit de Sainte-Maure’s Roman de Troie, in French, circa1184, influenced Guido.4

It is useful at this point to recall a few salient points of Caxton’s life as they cast a light on his preoccupation with the epic and the heroic in literature. William Caxton (circa 1420-1491) met Margaret of York in Bruges in the late 1440’s. She was the wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and the sister of King Edward IV of England. (The Morte was finished by Malory’ in the ninth year of Edward’s reign that is 1469/1470.) The Duchess was an avid reader of French romances and asked Caxton, who was Financial Advisor to her Court, to translate the Recuyeil des Histoires de Troyes a popular French Romance based on the characters of the Iliad. In 1470, Caxton travelled to Cologne and met Ulrich Zell, a priest who was acquainted with Gutenberg and had established the first printing press in Cologne. Zell taught Caxton the skills of printing which led to the production of several copies of the History of the destruction of Troy, as it became known. Under the continued sponsorship of the Duchess of Burgundy, Caxton set up printing press in Bruges before returning to England to begin printing operations there. His first printed work was the Canterbury Tales in 1476 and Troilus and Criseyde also by Chaucer; Caxton wrote prologues and epilogues to these and all the works that he printed subsequently. The prologue of the Morte contains his views and the work itself bears the marks of his editing, principally from the eight original romances into twenty- one seamless books.

Malory drew on French sources but was a remarkable innovator as well. At the conclusion of his epic he had not merely ‘translated’ these ideas but had created a transformed ‘home-grown’ hero in a very English setting: the sword in the stone, the Round Table, the Grail Quest by several knights, the inclusion of the Tristam and Isolde love story and the ‘Passing of Arthur’ are all introduced into the Arthur canon for the first time by Malory. This proved to be a suitable work for Caxton to use in his publishing

4 Roger Sherman Loomis ‘The development of Arthurian Romance’ Hutchison University Library, London 1963 chapter I ‘Arthurian Origins’, passim.

208 venture to increase the renown of the ‘Nine Worthies’5 among his elite English readership. Caxton is ‘humbly bysechyng al noble lordes and ladyes’ to

do after the good and leve the evyl and it shal brynge you to good fame and renonne…that al is wryten for our doctryne, and for to beware that we falle not to vyce ne synne but t’exersyse and folowe vertu6.

In the Prologue to Charles the Great (Charlemagne), which Caxton himself had translated from French and published on 18th June 1485, he refers to the Morte as ‘the book of the noble and vyctoryous Kyng Arthur’7 a paragon of courtly chivalry in the Carolingian style, another of the great Christian Worthies .Both of these heroes are described as victorious because, by their death in combat, each saves his Kingdom. It is Arthur, obscure and probably fictional, however, who is the archetypal mediaeval heroic figure, not the real and imperial Charlemagne, even though the matter of France eventually did evolve around him.

The book of the Order of Chivalry by the Catalan Ramon Llull, which Caxton had translated and published in 1484, did little to satisfy Caxton’s longings for the beaux gestes of chivalry. The work describes the idle life of knights who go to the public baths and play dice: Caxton urges them to read the noble volumes of the Sangreal and of Lancelot to learn ‘manhode, curtesye and gentylnesse’.

It was at this time that the manuscript version of the Morte by Sir Thos. Malory, knight, was set to press, ‘after a copye unto me delyvered’.8 Caxton reshaped and recast the manuscript version ‘by me devyded into xxi bookes’9 and published it on 31st July 1485 with the title of Morte Darthur. As Caxton heavily edited and reshaped the manuscript, it is appropriate to consider both men as ‘authors’ of the Morte. The edited version in no way changes the essence of the work, but it does change audience perception to it as well

5 See Appendices. 6 ‘Caxton’s Prose’ op cit page 109, lines 113-114. 7‘Caxton’s Prose’op cit page 67, line 46. 8‘Caxton’s Prose’ op cit page 108/9, lines 95-97. 9 ‘Caxton’s Prose ‘op cit page 109, line 135.

209 as its reaction to the contents. The printed version by its divisions highlights the episodic and thus epic nature of the work. Further, it shines a stronger light on the hero as fashioned by Malory. In this, the Caxton version reflects his own interests in the hero as a ‘worthy’ rather than Malory’s preoccupations which were with the passing of the hero and the ending of the glorious days of knighthood.

In spite of its popularity, or perhaps because of it and the heavy use that each volume received, only one copy of the printed version survives and is in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. The Morte went through five more editions at the hands of various English printers, in 1498; 1529; 1557; 1585 and 1634. Perhaps because of the influence of the Elizabethan scholar Roger Ascham10 who was vociferously critical of the moral turpitude of the Morte, the work fell into a decline until its revival during the Victorian era. Ascham wrote in his Toxiphilus that

In our fathers’ time nothing was read but books of feigned chivalry, wherein a man by reading should be led to none other end, but only to manslaughter and bawdry11

In 1934, during building works in the Fellows’ Library of Winchester College in London, a number of manuscripts were unearthed. Included among these was the work by Malory. Until this time, the only version of the Arthur legend in English prose was the one printed by Caxton. This manuscript, now known as the Winchester Manuscript,12 probably appeared in 1469/1470 and was in four sections. The opening and closing passages were missing. It is also evident that two scribes worked on it at the same time. This was a cost cutting measure as it readied the manuscript more quickly for sale. The drawback was that errors crept into the text such as numerous ‘eye skip’ errors which Caxton corrected. One such example is at the end of Book One on The Questing Beast, the text skipping from ‘belly’ omitting two lines to ‘belly’ in the final line of the paragraph. 13 It is clear

10 Roger Ascham(1515-1568) He was tutor to the young Princess Elizabeth and taught Greek to Lady Jane Grey. 11 ‘Toxophilus’ a work on archery and on the proper pursuits of a gentleman. 12 British Library Manuscript Additional 59678 Known as the Winchester Manuscript. 13 The Questing Beast is pursued by King Pelinor. It is typical of the mythical animals of the mediaeval bestiary; ‘it had the head of a snake, the body of a leopard, the buttocks of a lion and the feet of a hind.

210 from the printed version that Caxton saw the work as a single unified narrative, albeit an episodic one. This type of linking together of virtually independent episodes is very common in the French romances which are both the source of Malory’s material and the provider of other works for Caxton’s printing press. There are many cross references within the ‘Tales’ and they can be read comfortably as a continuous narrative especially since there is ample assistance provided for the reader, ‘Here levith the Tale of Sir Launcelot and begynnyth the Tale of Sir Percyvale deGalis’ and ‘Here this Tale overlapyth a whyle unto Sir Launcelot’14. Eugene Vinaver, the manuscript’s editor, on the other hand regarded the narrative as eight related but quite separate ‘Romances’, hence his choice of title for his three volume edition of the manuscript Morte, The Works of Sir Thomas Malory.15 The manuscript does provide ‘titles’ to the Tales in the form of eight colophons.16 Possibly, for practical purposes relating to setting up the type for each page, Caxton preferred to divide the work into ‘Chapters and ‘Books’. He describes this in the prologue colophon as

thys noble and joyous book entytled le morte Darthur…the noble hystoryes of the sayd kynge Arthur syr Thomas Malorye dyd take out of certeyn bookes of frenssch and reduced it into englisshe.17

According to Vinaver,18 the French books to which Caxton refers are a number of 15th century compilations based on the prose cycles of the 13th century such as Merlin; Livre d’Arturus; Launcelot and Morte Artu. The actual compilations were of little interest to either Caxton or Malory as they were neither historical nor didactic, the focus being on courtly love and on the Christian quest. Thus, for example, there are variations and

From its belly issued the sound of thirty pair of yapping hounds.’ Described in the Morte Book IX section12 lines 20-25 page 296 (Oxford Standard Authors) 14‘ Malory’s Works’ Edited by Eugene Vinaver, Oxford Standard Authors Oxford University Press second edition 1971. ( First published in 1947) All references to the ‘Morte Darthur are from this edition and are given in the following order: Book, page, section, line. Book xxiii to xiv Page 540 15 Eugene Vinaver op.cit. in three volumes. 16 Colophon from the Greek for ‘summit’ see Appendices for the Tales. 17 ‘Caxton’s Prose’ op. Cit .he divided the work into 21Books and 507 chapters or ‘sections’ Page 109, line 98. 18 Eugene Vinaver ‘Malory’ Oxford University Press 1929, for sources of the ‘Morte Darthur’ page 128 following, see also Appendices.

211 differences between Caxton’s version and the Manuscript in the treatment of the Emperor Lucius episode (Book v). Caxton appears to rely more on the English Alliterative Morte Arthur, with its emphasis on massed battles rather than the version favoured by Malory with an emphasis on personal combat by individuals. Nevertheless, Caxton and Malory could be termed kindred spirits in that both men appeared to have enjoyed nostalgia, which lies at the heart of all works of epic.

While Caxton certainly knew the heroes of Homer and of Virgil, it is unlikely that he had read these epics in their original languages. Similarly, though Caxton refers to Giovanni Boccaccio as one of the sources of the Arthurian material, he knew no Italian. He did know French and it was from this language that he translated the Booke of Eneydos, printed by him in 1490. Caxton used the Roman d’Eneas (circa 1160) a French poem of uncertain authorship as a source for his version. The French work omits the wanderings of Aeneas which are such a major part of the original epic. The interest lies in the gorgeous descriptions of marvels and of hand-to-hand combats. Its principal focus, however, is on the Dido-Aeneas love story. Aeneas’ Italian wife, Lavinia, who is silent throughout the Aeneid, is here given some prominence. This epic by ‘that learned clerke Virgil’ was ‘wyth other werkes made and learned dayly in scolis specyally in Ytalie’19, all readers could benefit from reading of heroes and of ‘good and honest actes and their rememberaunces and folowe the same’.20

Caxton remains true to Malory in the presentation of the key characters, namely the story of King Arthur, the fellowship of the Round Table and the noble end of Sir Lancelot. Caxton and Malory advanced the theme of the epic hero by enlarging its scope through the presentation of foils and subsidiary heroes and to some extent, the introduction of female characters with defined personalities and with realistic dialogue and not portrayed simply as connected to the hero either as a prize or a love interest.

19 ‘Caxton’s Prose’ op.cit Preface to the ‘Booke of Eneydos’ page 79 lines 20 to 21. 20 ‘Caxton’s prose’ op. cit. Prologue to the ‘Morte Darthur’ page 109 lines 107 to 108

212 In spite of ‘many evidences of the contrarye’21 Caxton goes to considerable length to present Arthur to his readers as a real king. However, it is Lancelot who is the hero, the flower of knighthood being both a warrior and a gentleman, ‘the sternest knyght’ and ‘the kyndest man’22. These epithets are used by Malory while fully recognizing that it is Lancelot’s adultery with Guinevere, the king’s wife that brings about the destruction of the Fellowship of the Round Table. That most moving of accolades, Ector’s threnody which brings this Arthuriad to an end is not for Arthur but for Lancelot for whom ‘there was wepyng and dolour out of mesure’.23 Only one man, Sir Bedivere, the last of the Round Table Knights, in contrast, witnesses Arthur’s passing.

It is worthwhile at this point to define the concept of ‘chivalry’ as both Caxton and Malory would have understood it. Essentially, it is the code of behaviour of an elite and wealthy class of males. These men were mounted warriors who owned a suit of armour especially made for their body, a formidable array of weapons and at least two ‘chargers’, heavily built horses who could not only carry their armoured rider, but were also trained to run down men on foot during combat. The knight possessed dexterity with sword, lance and mace, and could use a bow; he was a skilled rider, both in combat and at ‘jousts’24 as well as on a hunt. He owned lands and a fortified dwelling which also housed a retinue of a score of professional ‘men at arms’ as well as skilled body attendants such as squires who armed him and supported him in battle with replacement weapons and a shield. This nobleman spent the greater part of his life, from his early teens, in mastering these physically demanding skills. He was literate and eloquence and expertise at poetry were also prerequisites of his class. Personally, he was expected to be pious, courteous25, and above all, loyal to his Lord, both temporal and spiritual. His ideals of valour may well have been learned from reading such works on Roman military

21 ‘Caxton’s Prose’ op. cit Prologue to the’ Morte Darthur’.page 107 line 52 22 Sir Ector’s threnody (from Greek, threnos wailing and oide song) hence a lamentation. ‘Malory’s ‘Works’ op.cit. Book xxi page 725 sect.13 lines15 to 25. 23 ‘Malory’s Works’op.cit. Book xxi page 725 sect 13 line 27 24 A’ joust’ from Old French’s derivation of the Latin juxstare to draw close, was a combat between two mounted Knights. A ‘tournament’ was a pageant in which several ‘jousts’ took place for entertainment and competitive practice. Lances had a pommel at the end instead of a point. 25 This word meant well mannered, a polished ‘courtier’ with knowledge of protocol as well as social graces.

213 virtues as ‘De Re Militari’ by Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus 26translated into French in the early 13th Century by Jean Martin as ‘L’arte de chevalrie.

The knight had a duty towards three things. The first was to God and the Grail legends illustrate this devotion. The second was to fellow Christians (of his class) and to his Lord as shown by such the tales as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The third was towards women and the ‘courtly love’ tales are examples of this, such as that of Tristam and Isolde. The Morte was significant because it showed the hero in his duty towards all three entities.

It is difficult to preserve the chivalric temper of epic and to show the knight as a hero when chivalry has all but lost its significance as was the case in the 15th century. If the concept of chivalry in the epic tradition is purely a literary product of a perilous endeavour, then it can be turned easily into parody as in Don Quixote. In Malory, chivalry is linked to neither the knightly nor the monastic ideals of service. His hero is neither Hospitaler nor Templar Knight fighting the Infidel while obeying the monastic rule of Saint Benedict. Malory’ s hero is a righteous gentleman who ‘does after good and leaves off evil’ but whose spiritual attainments are limited to social discipline and the conforming to rituals such as respect for hermits (who are usually from the knight class) and passing the nox in albis before an altar as a prelude to receiving his spurs of knighthood. This latter ritual, the vigil while clothed in white and kneeling in front of the altar was similar to that preceding ordination for the priesthood.

The detailed, even convoluted Courtly material of the French writers is reduced here to the essence of epic, a tale of a noble quest for an earthly kingdom with a hero at its centre, an ‘Arthuriad’. Malory took the French material in a new direction and it is from his version of the Arthur story that all subsequent treatments of the hero and of chivalry have evolved. The fact that the focus changes from one hero to another is what makes the Morte so significant in the portrayal of the epic hero. Furthermore, neither Caxton nor

26‘Vegetius’ was a 4th century C.E. writer who compiled a treatise on military practices. His work appears to be a compendium of manuals and various treatises and it is believed that he had not been a soldier. Encyclopaedia Britannica.

214 Malory was interested in the Christian morality of the Grail quest, so central to the French material, but rather in the depiction of ‘noble chivalry of humanity, friendship, hardiness, love, friendliness’. These are embodied in Arthur and Lancelot. In addition, Malory provides foils for his principal characters, gallant men who perform extraordinary deeds. More significantly for an epic, the women are flesh and blood, passion and desire, unlike the insipid Courtly damsels who never leave their pedestal in the French Romances. It is this interaction between the hero and these women that breathes fresh life into the epic. Not for Malory the Virgilian woman, such as Lavinia who becomes Aeneas’ wife, who blushes and shows a range of emotions, yet does not speak for the entire twelve books of the Aeneid.

Finally, it is the shift in focus, from the hero as a divinely chosen warrior-king to a superior man, not divine and who brings ‘dolour’ into the world, yet who is a hero not just by birth but also by behaviour. It is Lancelot and not Arthur who is the ‘verray parfit gentil knyght’27. The warrior has become a gentleman and Malory has minted a new type of rôle model from the heroic mould of the classical hero.

In addition to the epic heroes of antiquity and the Courtly knights there already existed folkloric models of heroes.28 The biblical scholar Moses Hadas reinforces this idea of the ‘folkloric’ image of the hero29. He claims that the authorized image of the hero, one that is widely accepted, is more important than the actual historical personality. In spite of their protestations about the ‘facts’ about Arthur, neither Malory nor Caxton was too concerned about the ‘real’ Arthur. He was real enough for them and on this presumption they proceeded to create a hero according to their taste and genius.

27 Geoffrey Chaucer ‘Works’ Oxford Standard Authors 1964 The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Line 65 op.cit supra 28 ‘Beowulf” edited by Gavin Crossley Holland. Folio Society, London 1978. A more detailed treatment of ‘Beowulf’ is contained below in Chapter VI, as the Anglo Saxon and Icelandic sagas were unknown in Malory’s time. There is no indication in the Morte itself that Malory may have heard of any ‘English’ folk heroic stories such as the Anglo Saxon epic ‘Beowulf’ (circa 600). 29 ‘Heroes and gods’ Moses Hadas and Morton Smith, Spiritual Biographies in Antiquity 1965 London

215 It is upon this image rather than the person that reverence is bestowed. An epic is a form of ‘biography’ which focuses on the hero in an attempt to grasp the meaning of life by telling it in a certain way. In the case of the hero, it is presented as a ‘model’, a paradigm of example to follow. This provides authoritative guidance to those who read, or hear, the story. Thus the life story of the hero, notwithstanding all of its narrow range of options and specific adventures, nevertheless becomes a continuing model for the leading of one’s life in general.

All credulous and authoritative societies, those which believe in the power of the supernatural and which are controlled by a small group of powerful men such as those of the Sagas, of Malory’s England, of Attic Greece or of Augustan Rome have a long roll call of heroes. Building on this tradition, the Christian Church compiled a compendium of its own heroes, the Lives of the Saints that became prescribed reading in all of its training institutions and religious houses.

Democratic societies, such as wealth-obsessed California with its ‘mean streets’ of Philip Marlowe’s Los Angeles,30 are not so credulous and are all too aware of the feet of clay of the powerful men in authority who claim to be heroes. As for the contemporary world, the ‘saints’ are the sporting ‘heroes’ and the popular film personalities: when they transgress, much is forgiven. Western societies not only tolerate social mobility, but also actively encourage it, as renown and trophies are the prizes for individuals that make their own life a quest for personal satisfaction.

There was no mobility in Malory’s or in Caxton’s worlds and for them the appeal of chivalry was the nostalgia for lost hopes. The knight, a mounted warrior who adhered to the code of chivalry and the epic hero, who is ‘a superior being who sought and deserved honour’ as C.M.Bowra31 so aptly defines him, are not the same. Rather, the hero served as a rôle model for the knight. In Malory, the hero Arthur becomes a chevalier of the Round Table.

30 Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver ‘Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, a photographic odyssey’. The Overlook Press, Woodstock, New York 1987. 31C.M. Bowra ‘Heroic Poetry’ Macmillan London 1961. page 91.

216

In practical terms new technology contributed to the emergence of this new type of hero. It was the invention of shoeing that enabled the horse to gain a surer footing and to carry heavy weights for long distances .This encouraged the breeding of ‘chargers’ for carrying heavily armed men into combat. By contrast, classical age warriors were driven to battle in chariots and the actual fighting was done on foot. When the Frankish knights developed the stirrup, the warrior was able to keep his seat not just when charging with a lance but also when wielding an edged weapon from horseback. The ‘Chevalier’ was born and was first used in Western warfare by Charlemagne in the eighth century. These men, whose sole task was learning the complexities of fighting from horseback, soon formed a distinct social class. Tournaments and jousts, jeux d’esprit, mock combats,32 became immensely popular not only as a means of keeping these skills well honed, but also as social festivals. Their popularity as public pageants increased from the 12th century on and the large numbers of young men engaged in these activities found the stories of heroes very much to their taste. In Malory, Lancelot has twenty such duels on horseback in quick succession. The account of one tournament at Surluse is related with humour, with the likable Sir Dinadan as the butt of the jest.

Latin literature, especially Virgil’s works which were accorded almost supernatural powers33, was preserved in the European monasteries since the fall of the Western Empire in the fourth century. It was from these Latin and Greek epics (these latter being read in Latin translation in the West) that gradually a Romanised version of these epics began to appear. The Chanson de Roland and the Cantar de mio Cid are 12th century examples of epics of conquest or in the case of the ‘Cid’ of the reconquest of a lost kingdom. By the mid 12th Century reworked versions of the Aeneid and the Iliad were common. Benoît de Sainte-Maure (died1173), for example, was inspired by the heroic material of the Iliad to produce a 40,000-line poem Le Roman de Troie (1155-1160).

32 ‘Malory’s Works’ op. cit supra Book viii section 9 page 399 following is typical of the description of this activity. Malory revelled in the details as his readers had a great appetite for these events. 33 Sortes Vergilianes ; a page of Virgil was opened at random and a finger placed on a line. The interpretation of this line was regarded as predicting the future. Dante described Virgil as ‘Tu duca, tu signore, tu maestro’ ( you are the leader ,the lord and the master) in La Divina Comedia, Inferno II line 140.

217 Benoît invented the love story of the young Trojan noble Troilus for Cressida, the daughter of Calchas who defects to the Greeks. She is then courted by Diomedes, thus setting up a love triangle so popular in the chivalric romances. 34 What is seen in the Morte is a fusion of ancient epic material with a contemporary setting and culture and it is this blend that allows a heroic code that is both new and steeped in the past.

The tales of chivalry have four basic elements that overlap in part with the elements of epic.35Heroism and the cult of the hero is the most important element present in both forms of narrative. The second common element is the presence of the marvellous or the supernatural, though in epics the hero performs superhuman feats and escapes from impossible situations in defiance of human limitations, partly because the epic hero is either semidivine himself or is under the protection of a deity. In chivalric tales, the marvels are more akin to those present in folklore, monsters and evil spirits. The third element sees a divergence: the traditional hero’s interaction with a woman is at best utilitarian. She is a prize, a trophy won in battle, a potential mother of the next generation of heroes. The tales of chivalry see a genuine interaction, albeit limited by 21st century standards, between the hero and his lady. When El Cid is parted from his wife, the narrator describes this feeling as being like having ‘his fingernails torn out’36. In the Morte Guinevere is central to the epic unlike for example, Briseis in the Iliad or of Dido in the Aeneid .The fourth element deals with loyalty; in the epic it is to a lord in chivalry to a lady. It is the conflict between these two loyalties in the Morte that shows how the Iliad has become the Arthuriad a fresh blend of both the classical epics and the courtly tales.

To some extent, Malory while lamenting the loss of the golden age holds a mirror to his own society in depicting the conflict within Lancelot in his divided loyalty to Arthur and to Guinevere. The lifelong loyalty which a knight showed his lord in return for land and

34 Source the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’ entry on Benoît de Sainte-Maure. 35 Richard Barber ‘The Reign of Chivalry’ St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1980 page 13. 36 ‘El Cantar de mio Cid’ Penguin dual language text London 1967 page 26

218 booty was changing to the rather shorter term allegiance of the professional man at arms, the ‘condottiere’, a ‘freelance’ who used his skills for ‘merces’ a reward.

In real life, combats were beginning to be seen in terms of cost and not just in military terms. In the Morte, there is no depiction of reality nor of contemporary comment. For example, the cost of a campaign is mentioned only once, when Guinevere raises money, ‘tresoure inowe for theye expence’, to pay for the expedition by Bors, Ector and Lionel to find Lancelot who has taken leave of his senses and disappeared into the wilderness.37

In the French tales, the Christian quest and the Christian values are of central importance. In Malory, the Church has lost its hold on chivalry; his knights do not fight secular wars for spiritual benefit. His knight posses personal, inner virtues, the word ‘virtus’ still having the Latin connotation manly courage, joined with goodness and humility. The knight’s prowess and skill are evidence of healthy, masculine vigour. It is this wholesome knight who later becomes the model for the gentleman as ‘muscular Christian’ of Thomas Hughes’s Rugby School and of the Arthurian revival by Tennyson. 38

Malory’s own predilections about epic matched those of Caxton and these are reflected in what was extracted from the French Arthurian material. Malory is not a political thinker.39 Likewise, Malory was sceptical of the supernatural, including the miraculous 40 and had very little sympathy with the courtly traditions such as the cult of the Virgin Mary and the placing of the Lady of the Manor on a pedestal of chastity and unattainability. He shows little interest in moral and religious discussions, even the Sangreal quest he regards as merely an adventure. By contrast, the French tales of the

37 Malory’s Works op.cit supra. Book xi sect10 page 489 line 22 38 Muscular Christianity in ‘The world of the Public School’ Edited by George Macdonald Fraser Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1977 page 141. 39 ‘The Paston Letters’ that cover a period in England from 1422-1509 provide an excellent picture of life during Malory’s time. They were published in 1789. 40 Sir Urry and his miraculous cure of the ‘dolorous stoke’ is believed by Helen Cooper (op. cit.) to have been an invention of Malory (along with the character of Sir Gareth) and serves as a link between the early and late parts of the Lancelot story .It also shows Lancelot in a favourable light.

219 Queste du Saint Grael are miraculous and are permeated with the doctrine of Divine Grace. 41

His principal interest is in the gentlemanly profession of arms with its intrinsic code of honour. John Steinbeck42 is puzzled, for example, by the fact that Malory does not mention the longbow as a weapon when in fact the English infantry relied heavily on the skill and power of its archer to win battles.43 This is not in dispute, but archers were yeoman at best, not ‘gentle’; for a nobleman such as Malory and for his heroes, the bow was used by men of this class solely for hunting. Heroes fought one another only with edged weapons and with tilted lances at the gallop. This attitude towards the bow has its beginnings in classical literature. Achilles is killed in a cowardly fashion with an arrow shot by Paris. It is significant that Odysseus slays the suitors not with his sword but with his mighty bow and arrows, implying that they are merely beasts.

Given what is now accepted as being the details of his own less than exemplary life, Malory, repeatedly without any trace of irony, comments on the duties and responsibilities of a knight.44It is this preoccupation with the code of the hero that has Malory dispose unceremoniously of the Grael quest, confining it to a chapter, ‘The tale of the Sank Greal’ that he has ‘brefly drawyn out of Freynche’. The key element of the Morte is the passing of Arthur which in Malory’s version departs from tradition and is reinterpreted in terms of Lancelot’s own version of loyalty and devotion to the ideals of chivalry and of honour. It is upon this conflict of loyalties that the fortunes of Arthurian chivalry are dashed. There is a marked contrast between the two codes of chivalry, those of Arthur and Lancelot. Malory is aware that the activity of killing realizes many of the values of the hero just as it destroys those who best embody those values.

41 For an explanation of the ‘miraculous elements.’ see Appendices. 42 ‘The acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights’ John Steinbeck London: Heinemann, 1976 page 327. Written in 1958/1959, the work was unfinished at the time of Steinbeck’s death. 43 While the Morte contains accounts of some eleven major battles, Malory provides few realistic details of any of these battles. 44 Malory was convicted of rape. The ‘Oath of Knighthood in ‘Malory’s Works’ op. cit supra Book iii section 15 page 75 lines 36 to end.

220 Arthur’s world, as seen by Malory who is the de facto ‘historian’ of Arthur’s Court, is one of Fellowship. Indeed, it was Malory who coined the verb ‘to enfellowship’ to convey the concept of mutual support. He claims that both Merlin and Arthur had written documents about the Round Table.45

Unlike in the French Cycle, it is not the clash between the secular and the divine which causes ruin, but sexual disloyalty and personal rivalry. Malory’s narrative is both a longing for a golden age and an account of the destruction of an ideal; manhode, curtesye and gentylness have vanished from 15th Century England ruled by warmongering men devoid of any social responsibility, with no chance of redeeming their honour; ‘knyghts ons shamed recovery hit never’.

Classical epic heroes were bound by the culture of shame: Achilles is shamed by King Agamemnon who takes away from him a prize won in combat, the slave girl Briseis. 46Much of the Iliad deals with overcoming this feeling of dishonour. Malory’s heroes also are subject to this code of shame and to the Christian concept of guilt as well. Unless ‘shriven’, the pangs of conscience coupled with the shame of being dishonoured, send men mad.

Arthur is a king warrior, hero in the classical mould and Malory delights in describing this champion in heroic terms. He is ‘every inch a king’47.The ‘nobyl Arthur, ‘the Nobyl King’ is used constantly almost as an Homeric epithet. In battle Arthur performs ‘ful nobly as a nobyl kynge shold’. He is ‘ful of prowesse’ and when he strikes Accolon the Gaul, the paramour of his half sister Morgan le Fay, he gives him ‘with the pommel in his hand such a buffet that he went three strydes abak’48. He is not only a ‘kyng to stand with true justyce’ in his own land, but also, Malory has him crowned Emperor by the Pope in Rome ‘with all the ryalte that coude be made’. 49This link with Divinity reaffirms

45A brief comment about the ‘real Arthur’ is contained in Appendices. 46 ‘Iliad’ Homer, A.T. Murray ed. Two volumes Loeb Classical Library 1966 ‘bring me another prize… Book I line 139 and following. 47 ‘Malory’ Eugene Vinaver op.cit. supra page 91 48 ‘Malory’s Works’ op. cit supra Book iv sect 10 page 87 lines3 to 5. 49 Ibid. Book v section 12 page 145 lines 15 to 16.

221 Arthur’s semi divine status, having been chosen as king by the Divine power through the device of the sword in the stone.

Everything in Arthur’s Court is magnificent, from the Feasts to the jousts and tournaments, but the most splendid of all is the Round Table and its Fellowship of the greatest knights in the world. Malory was imbued with the noble intent to capture the splendour of chivalry. He knew from personal experience that war was a business undertaken by professional men at arms who were far from ‘gentle’ in both breeding and behaviour and who ignored the oath of knighthood in the practicalities of imposing one’s will with violence, as indeed he did.50 In reality, a gulf opened up between the ideal of chivalry and the behaviour of knights and the nobility.

When the gap between the ideal and the real becomes too wide, the system breaks down. Legend and story have always reflected this; in the Arthurian romances the Round Table is shattered from within. The sword is returned to the lake, the effort begins anew. Violent, destructive, greedy fallible as he may be, man retains his vision of order and resumes his search.51

We sympathize with the 14th Century, Tuchman states, as a distraught age whose rules were breaking down under the pressure of adverse and violent events. We recognize the marks of a period of anguish where there is no sense of an assured future. This is the very time when heroes are needed and they invariably emerge.

Arthur’s Court is a magnet for knights-errant, free lances in search of glory through noble adventure. The reward from their Patron the King is membership of the Round Table. Arthur’s Court does not manage the Kingdom but pursues glorious deeds in both quests

50 The Order of the Garter, founded by King Edward III in 1348, has kept its membership at twenty four knights only since its inception .The Order’s ceremonies were designed to make Court events even more brilliantly spectacular .The Oath of Knighthood is based on that in the Morte. Its Motto, ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ and the insignia, an actual garter for securing a stocking, proclaim that the Monarch’s actions can never be shameful. 51 Barbara Tuchman ‘A Distant Mirror’, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1978.

222 and contests. These knights do not seek estates or booty to provide a living, the preoccupations of the real world are as absent as is the ordinary population. Malory’s knights do not protect serfs and land as the knight of Langland’s Piers Ploughman does nor do they fight the Infidel like Chaucer’s Knight.

The character of Arthur in the Morte has all the hallmarks of the epic hero. His physical description is ‘formulaic’. He was ‘passyng noble, trew, curteyse and jantil and well conditionde’.52 Other than that he has grey eyes, he is not described more fully, thus he can resemble everyone’s personal image of a hero. He receives divine intervention; he is fatherless and is brought up by a mentor, Merlin and a surrogate father, Sir Ector who shares many characteristics with old Phoenix, Achilles’ mentor in the Iliad.

Arthur is physically brave and imposing in size and he is never bested in armed combat ‘then com into the thycke press Arthur, Ban and Bors and slew downeryght on both hondis that thir hoses wente in blood up to the fitlokys’.53 On another occasion, ‘Kynge Arthur slew that day twenty knyghtes and maymed fourty’.54 Merlin is the only one shocked by Arthur’s passion for slaughter, although he does not generally act as a conscience,

Thou hast never done, hast thou nat done inow? Of three score thousande thys day hast thou lefte on lyve but fyftene thousand, therefor hit ys time to say ‘who.55

In the early part of the Morte, Arthur is the hero who secures the realm from its enemies and thus he is similar to the Arthur of legend:

He is that Arthur about whom the trifles of the Bretons (nugae Britorum) rave even today, a man worthy not to be dreamed about by false fables but proclaimed in

52 ‘Malory’s Works’ op.cit. supra Book xx page 696 line 4. 53 Ibid. Book i section 17 page 24 line 26. 54 Ibid. Book ii section 10 page 47 line 37. 55 Ibid. Book i section 17 page 24 line 32. Merlin may appear at times acts as Arthur’s conscience. However, Malory’s age was unaware of the concept of conscience as it was motivated by public shame not inner feelings of moral wrongdoing. This slaughter by Arthur is reminiscent of Achilles going berserk at the Scamander River.

223 veracious histories, for he long upheld the sinking fatherland and quickened the failing spirits of his countrymen to war.56

Malory’s own personality and behaviour is irrelevant to the characters he creates. Loomis notes that if all that was said about Malory were true, he would be ‘a hardened criminal and a hypocrite’57, but Malory wrote of ‘the floure of chevalrye’58 which he imagined existed once, or should exist. He has Arthur impose the rule of law and bring social stability to a world of feuding warlords. There is also moral rectitude for in the world of the Morte he shows how virtuous knights come to ‘honour and how they that were vycious were punysshed and ofte put to shame and rebuke’.

Malory’s literary adherence to honour is matched only by Arthur’s physical endurance of the pain of wounds,

King Arthur loste so much bloode that hit marvayle he stode upon his feete, but he was so full of knyghthode that he endure the payne… (he) had liver to dye with honour than to lyve with shame.59

This statement is prophetic as the hero of this Arthuriad is undone and his Court and Table Round vanish because of earthly love between a man and a woman and because the Oath of Chivalry cannot alter the behaviour of selfish men. Chivalry is destroyed because its highest aspirations and ideals cannot survive in an imperfect society of impulsive and venal men. Lancelot’s requited love for Guinevere forces him to choose between the loyalty to his Lord (pietas) and his ‘courtesye’ for his Lady. The ideal of chivalry remains constant and the quality and beauty of the concept remain intact but it cannot survive untainted by these events. The few surviving knights abandon their horses and travel on

56 ‘Historiae Regum Anglorum’ by William of Malmesbury (1125) in ‘Arthur King Of Britain’ edited by Richard Brengle Appleton-Century –Crofts New York 1964. 57 ‘Sir Thomas Malory’ Loomis ‘s article in ‘Arthurian Literature in The Middle Ages’ edited by Roger Sherman Loomis Oxford University Press 1959 58 ‘Malory’s Works’ op.cit supra Book iii section 12 page 74 line 15. 59 Ibid Book iv section 9 page 86 lines 11-13 and section 10 lines 36-37.

224 foot to monasteries to render ‘lowly al maner of servyce. And soo their horses wente where they wolde for they toke no regarde of no worldly rychesses.’60

Arthur, like other epic heroes, is unlucky in love. He begets a child on the ‘femme fatale’ Morgause, wife of King Lot of Orkney who has sent her ‘to espy’ on Arthur’s Court. Moreover, Arthur does not know that she is his half sister and from this doubly sinful, adulterous and incestuous encounter Mordred is born on the following May Day.61

In an equally disastrous prophecy Merlin advises Arthur not to marry Guinevere as she is ‘not holsom for hym to take to wyf’62 as she will reciprocate Lancelot’s love for her and not Arthur’s. It is this love triangle which is the core of the Morte not the Grail quest which Malory sees as just another, albeit very symbolic ‘beau geste’.

Arthur may be regarded as becoming somewhat passive in the last stages of the Morte, being carried by events rather than dictating their outcome. It is not that his hero status is in any way diminished but it is the heroism of a warrior monarch and not of a courtly knight. Malory shifts his sympathies from Arthur to Lancelot and the audience follows his lead. Arthur, the action hero, is not politically astute and is easily manipulated by knights with daggers in their smiles. He agrees with Aggravayne’s plan to ambush Lancelot in Guinevere’s chamber. He insists when she is accused of treason, that she ‘take the Law’ and not have Lancelot defend her against her accuser in Trial by Combat. By rejecting this option, he rejects the ideal of God being on the side of virtue. Idealism gives way to the reality that might is right. Arthur sides with the conspirators because he realizes that the shame of the Queen’s adultery will now be made public, and thus cannot be endured.

With this break with Lancelot, the Wheel of Fortune turns for Arthur; his Court has sent forth the knight who has achieved the major Quest, that for the Holy Grail and yet it is for nought. Arthur dies alone, slain by his own son, attended by a solitary knight who has to

60 Ibid Book xxi section 10 page 722 lines 16 and 17. 61 Ibid. Book I section19 page 27 line 41.In some sources, Morgause is Arthur’s aunt. 62 Ibid. Book iii section 1 page 59 lines 35 to 37.

225 be ordered three times to perform the King’s final command. As he becomes aware that his whole world is to be destroyed with his own death, Arthur grieves as a hero, but not as a man, he bewails the loss of the Brotherhood, not that of his wife.

Wyte you well, my harte was never so hevy as hit ys now. And much more I am soryar for my good knyghtes losse than for the losse of my fayre queen; for quenys I might have inow, but such a felyship of good knygthes shall nere be togydis in no company.63

In those fateful moments on Barham Down, when a striking adder causes the slaughter to begin, Arthur descends almost to the level of a barbarian when he wants to kill Mordred who stands defeated leaning on his sword surrounded by all his slain retainers.64 Arthur will show no mercy, he wants revenge and ignores the plea of Sir Lucan the Butler ‘if ye leve of now thys wycked day of Desteny ys paste’.65 Arthur is enraged by what has been wrought his own son, Mordred; the savagery of this final encounter is brutal.

And when Sir Mordred saw King Arthur, he ran unto him with his sword drawn in his hand; and there King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield with the foin of his spear, throughout the body, more than a fathom. And when Sir Mordred felt that he had his death’s wound, he thrust himself with the might he had up to the bur of King Arthur’s spear; and right so smote his father, King Arthur, with his sword holding in both hands on the side of the head, that the sword pierced the helmet and the tray of the brain. And therewith Mordred dashed down stark dead on the earth66

In his death throes, Mordred smashes Arthur in the head with a double-handed blow and his sword ‘perced the helmet and the tay of his brayne panne.’67

63 Ibid Book xx section 7 page 682 5-9 line 64 Ibid. Book xxi section 4 page 712 line 41. 65 Ibid Book xxi section 4 page 713 line 40. 66 The ‘Morte D’Arthur’ op cit page 513. 67 Ibid Book xxi section 4 page 714 lines 5 to 13

226 Seldom has the passing of a king been portrayed with so much heart-rending sorrow; Arthur has lost all and he knows that nothing that he has prized will survive his passing.

Arthur thus becomes the rex futurus of prophecy and Excalibur, the symbol of his earthly glory is thrown into the lake by Sir Bedivere, to be reclaimed by a hand that rises out of the water.68 Arthur is lowered into a barge crewed by fair ladies with black hoods and leaving a distraught Sir Bedivere on the shore; he is rowed away to the Vale of Avalon ‘to heal me of my grievous wound.’69

Lancelot’s death is atypical for a warrior hero; he dies as a priest, ‘he endured in grete penaunce syx yere and then dyed’. He and what is left of his companions had turned to the religious life as all else had failed. Lancelot’s descendants stay in England according to English sources that follow on from the Morte while the French version of the Matter of Britain has Lancelot’s descendants going to the Holy Land to fight Infidels. The cold body of Lancelot is found in his monastic cell but the Archbishop of Canterbury is delighted by the vision he has had of Lancelot’s passing. ‘I sawe angellys heve up Syr Launcelot unto heven and the yates of heven opened ayenst hym’.70

Lancelot is the apex of two interconnected triangular relationships. The first is the love triangle involving Lancelot, Guinevere and Arthur while the second is the ‘heroic’ triangle involving Lancelot, Arthur and Gawaine. There is an additional triangular conflict of Lancelot, Guinevere and Elaine as the two women compete for the knight’s affection. This is more in the nature of a subplot designed to produce the next (and more morally ‘pure’) generation of knight, Sir Galahad. It is Galahad who achieves a knight’s ultimate quest, that of the Grail. In terms of earthly love, Elaine comes a very poor second to Guinevere in Lancelot’s affections.

68 Ibid Book xxi section 6 page 717 lines 35 .Also ‘Sir Thomas Malory Le morte Darthur’ ed. By Helen Cooper World’s Classics Series Oxford University Press1998 page563in, the explanatory notes. 69 Ibid. Book xxi section 5 page 716 line 25. 70 Ibid. Book xxi section 12 page 724 line 24. Note that the extant part of the Winchester Manuscript ended at Book xxi section 19. The last four sections (chapters) are from Caxton’s version.

227 Alfred Pollard, writing the Introduction for the 1917 edition of the Morte notes the shift in ‘hero’ status from Arthur to Lancelot, actually referring to Arthur as ‘a typical sportsman’. Furthermore, he is weak in his own life and in tolerating the outrageous behaviour of his nephews. Like all men of action, he enjoys taking risks and leads from the front as all sporting heroes must. ‘All men of worship said it was merry to be under such a chieftain who would put his person in adventure as other poor knights did.’71 Lancelot on the other hand is made of finer stuff. For Pollard, Malory’s characterization is

the most splendid study of a great gentleman in all our literature, generous to friend and foe, courteous to everyone, eager to set himself even harder adventures, unwilling to be praised above his fellows, always bearing himself with easy dignity which lets him use very straight speech and yet his wit is not impaired. He is more than a great gentleman; he is a subtle study of a soul in which a great spirit and flesh, aspiration and evil habit strive for mastery and now and again he is portrayed (sic) with the rare knowledge of the human heart.72

Raymond Chandler could well have recognized this description of Lancelot as applying with only minor adjustments to his hero, Philip Marlowe.

Pollard’s ‘hero worship’ of Lancelot and his courtesy to everyone leads him to overlook the episode with the cart. Being without a horse, Lancelot demands a ride to a castle, from which he must rescue Guinevere, from two carters (one of the very few episodes involving ‘common folk’). The first carter refuses, possibly because his Lord is the very Sir Mellygaunt, an enemy, whose castle Lancelot plans to attack. The response is swift. ‘Whan Sir Launcelot lepe to hym and gaff hym backwarde with hys gauntelet a

71 ‘Le Morte Darthur’ Illustrated by Arthur Rackham edited by Alfred Pollard Macmillan facsimile London 1917 page ix Introduction. Note that Rackham’s illustrations are widely regarded as the ‘definitive’ drawings of the Arthur story. 72 Ibid. page x

228 reremayne, that he felle to the erthe starke dede.’73 Not surprisingly, the other carter readily agrees to do Sir Lancelot’s bidding.

The character of Lancelot as hero serves as a mould into which each generation pours its own ideals and aspirations. If one follows ‘the golden thread of worship’74 in the Morte, the character of Lancelot becomes more brilliant and his deeds more admirable as Malory distinguishes more sharply between the secular and the divine aspects of chivalry and as he opts for the physical over the spiritual attributes. Once the Grael Quest is over, the human frailty of the hero is displayed fully, as Lancelot becomes embroiled with Guinevere upon his return from the Quest. Conversely, Arthur becomes more passive, even sinister, and does not ‘regain’ his hero status until his passing. Even this final combat with Mordred has many of the hallmarks of the hero as barbarian; certainly Arthur does not behave as a Christian king. The emotion he feels towards Mordred echoes that fury felt by Aeneas towards Turnus or Achilles against Hector; each hero ends his epic by pitilessly and viciously slaughtering an individual enemy who has been clearly bested 75.

In the ‘Tale of Sir Lancelot’, devoted entirely to him, Malory constantly emphasises Lancelot’s physical superiority over all other knights, as he is ‘done the most worship’. In this Tale he is referred to as the perfect knight, unlike in the French cycle where he is seen as a failure because he does not succeed in the spiritual quest of the Grael. It is Lancelot’s son Galahad and his nephew Perceval who succeed, yet Lancelot never abandons the struggle and sees the Grael twice in spite of his disposition to sin.

Lancelot may be overcome morally, but physically he is never matched. In sheer size, he is invariably described as ‘the biggest man I ever met withal’.76 When he jousts with Arthur, he bests both him and Sir Bors but shows forbearance during this ‘mock’ combat.

73 ‘Malory’s Works’ op.cit supra Book xix section 4 page 654 lines 13 to 15. 74 ‘A study of knighthood in Malory’s Works.’ Richard Gray M.Litt. U.N.E. 1998. 75 ‘Aeneid’ Publius Virgilius Maro edited R.D. Williams Volume II Macmillan 1972 Book xxi lines 950 to 952. ‘He (Aeneas) sank his blade in fury in Turnus’ chest, then his whole body went limp in the chill of death and with a groan and with indignation, his spirit fled to the gloomy depths.’ 76 Ibid Book vi Sect 8 line 6 page 158.

229 Even though he has Arthur at his mercy, he does not hurt nor shame him, in spite of the bitterness between them, ‘I woll never se that moste noble kynge that made me knyght nother slayne nor shamed’.77 Malory tells us, referring to his ‘Freynche Booke’, that for his part, Arthur did not want ‘noyse’(a scandal) as ‘Lancelot had done so much for hym and for the qene so many tyme that wyte you well the kynge loved hym (Lancelot) passyngly well’78 and respects ‘the grete curtesy that was in Sir Lancelot more than in ony other man.’ 79

The healing of Sir Urry, whose wounds had been bleeding for seven years, shows Lancelot as the best of knights, whose healing touch is superior to that of all other men, including that of the King himself. Sir Urry cannot be whole until his wounds have been ‘serched by the beste knyght in the world’.80 This episode demonstrates Arthur’s incomprehension of the conflict that surrounds him. To Lancelot’s physical earthly powers is added the sacred power of healing and this forms a link back to the spiritual benefits of the Grael quest. Lancelot is so overcome with humility at the achievement of this miracle that ‘he wepte as he had bene a chylde that had bene beatyn’.81

The apotheosis of Lancelot from warrior to hero is brought about through his relationship with Guinevere; in this he both sinks to his lowest, when he lives like a wild beast in the woods, and rises to his highest when he ‘penitent’ departs from Guinevere for the last time:

but there never was so harde herted man but he wold have wepte to se the dolour that they made, for there was lamentacyon as they had be stungyn wyth sperys,…….Sir Launcelot rode al that day and al nyght in a forest,wepyng.82

77 ‘Malory’s Works” op.cit supra Book xx section 13 page 691 line 16. 78 Ibid. Book xx section 2 page 674 line 38. 79 Ibid Book xx section 12 page 691 line 26. 80 Ibid Book xix section 19 page 663 line 34. 81 Ibid. Book xix section 12 page 668 line 35 82 Ibid. Book xxi section 10 page721 lines 15 to 20.

230 In contrast, Sir Lancelot’s slaying of Mellygaunt is an example of behaviour more akin to that of the barbarian than a hero. Mellygaunt is consumed with desire for Guinevere. He tells her ‘I have loved you many a yere and never ar now cowde I gete you at such avaiyle. And therefore I woll take you as I fynde you’ and has kidnapped her.83 Lancelot rescues her and bests Mellygaunt in combat. Earlier, Mellygaunt had slain Lancelot’s steed using a bow and ‘many arrows’. This is contrary to the gentlemanly code of fighting with edged weapons. Lancelot says with contempt ‘That ys lytyll maystry to sle myne horse!’84. The rules of combat dictate that a foe that yields must be given quarter, yet Guinevere wants Mellygaunt dead. Thus, Lancelot offers to fight on with one hand tied behind his back and while not wearing a helmet. As he looks to the Queen for approval to kill Mellygaunt, ‘he full well knew by her sygnys that she wolde have hym dede’85. Lancelot makes short work of his charging foe and gives him ‘such a buffett that the stroke carved the hed into two partyes’86 The response of Arthur and Guinevere to this action leaves Lancelot ‘more was he cherysshed than ever aforehande’.87 Malory’s irony would have been obvious to the audience.

Time and again, Malory uses Lancelot to express his own moral values. For example, a knight gets his just deserts by having his head struck off his body in one blow because ‘he distresse ladyes, damsels and jantyllwomen’.88 Similarly, the knight who gives no quarter to others but insists on mercy being shown to him after he is bested exemplifies the concept of shame. He so demeans knighthood and its code of honour that Lancelot says to him ‘in a shameful oure were thou borne’.89 The entire encounter with Sir Pedivere is ‘shameful’ to Lancelot as he is fighting an opponent who not only is inferior in prowess but who is also dishonourable in his actions. Thus, Lancelot finds it difficult to ‘ gyff mercy unto hym that askith mercy’ as Pedivere has so shamed Lancelot that he offers to strip to his shirt and fight without any armour, so much does he want to kill this cowardly knight who has slain by treachery a lady who had been under Lancelot’s

83 Ibid. Book xix section 2 page 651 lines 11 to 13. 84 Ibid. book xix section 4 page 653 lines31. 85 Ibid. Book xix section 9 page 662 lines 25 and26. 86 Ibid Book xix section 9 page 663 line11. 87 Ibid Book xix section 9 page 663 line16. 88 Ibid Book vi section10 page 160 line8. 89 Ibid Book vi section 17 page 171 lines22 to 26

231 protection .90 In an effort befitting a hero, Lancelot overcomes his shame and contempt allowing Pedivere to live. So unfit is he to be a knight that Pedivere can only be redeemed if he makes whatever penance is prescribed by the Pope in Rome. He lives out the rest of his life as a hermit.91

When involved with Guinevere, both Lancelot and Arthur act to save their honour. However, their society’s culture of shame, of preserving ‘face’ or one’s public reputation has two quite opposite consequences. Arthur saves his personal honour abiding by the rule of law even if it means Guinevere’s destruction. Lancelot, on the other hand abides by the rule of chivalry, choosing to remain loyal to his lady Guinevere regardless of the consequences; in this case disloyalty to his king and his own public shame. Sir Bors tells him

In so much as ye were takyn with her, whether ye ded ryght other wronge, hit ys now youre parte to holde wyth the quene, that she be not slayne and put to a myschevous deth. For and she so dye, the shame shall be evermore youres.92

Lancelot seeks confirmation from his’ kyn and fryndis ‘and they all cry in one voice ‘We woll do es ye woll do’. 93

Lancelot belief that he would be shamed forever if he did not rescue Guinevere is thus confirmed and he does so three times. He returns Guinevere to Arthur only when the king is entreated to have his Queen back by the most forceful Papal order of ‘Bulles under lead’ with the penalty of the whole of England being excommunicated if the Bull is not obeyed.

Out of consideration for Lancelot’s ‘high prowess’ and for Arthur’s ‘great goodness’ the Pope wants peace restored and for Arthur not only to take his queen again but also to

90 Ibid. Book vi section17 page 171 lines 29 to 31. 91 Ibid Book vi section 17 page 172 line15. See also footnote number 120. 92 Ibid. Book xx section 6 page 680 lines20 to 24. 93 Ditto line 30

232 ‘accord’ with Lancelot. Malory notes that when Guinevere is returned to Court and when she and Lancelot kneel before Arthur, the moment is so emotionally moving, that ‘many a bold knight wept as tenderly as they had seen all their kin dead befo. The kinge sate stylle and seyde no word.’94

Malory does not humble his hero; rather, he emphasizes the secular aspects of Lancelot’s actions even while acknowledging his failure as a Christian knight. He supports Lancelot’s actions, even his unsanctioned relationship with Guinevere; for example, he notes with approval that after vowing to rescue her ‘he kyste her, and ayther of hem galf otheir a rynge’. 95

The charge against her for treason carries the penalty of death as it harms a person of Royal Blood and Guinevere is to be burned at the stake. In his rescue effort, to take her to his stronghold at Joyous Gard, Lancelot kills the brothers of Gawain, his most loyal supporter. Arthur had made Gaharis and Gareth guard Guinevere, but they refuse to do so while armed, as this would shame them. Knights were recognized by the ‘Coat of Arms’ on their shield, thus as the brothers are unarmed, Lancelot does not recognize them. Lancelot’s violent rescue action has the approval of Sir Bors and of all his kinsmen.

Subsequent episodes involving the revenge obligation of Gawain against Lancelot are representative of the code of the heroic knight. Revenge for having been dishonoured, or more particularly, for the death of one’s kinsman, is not only expected of heroes but is sanctioned for Christian knights as the ‘Lex talionis’ the interpretation of the Bible passage that permits the taking of ‘eye for eye: tooth for tooth’ .96 Lancelot is patient with Gawain (I have forsworn you and suffered you half a year) and does not fight with

94 Ibid. Book xx section 14 page 694 lines35 to 37. 95 Ibid Book xx section 4 page 678 lines 25 and 26. 96 This is now regarded as setting the limits of retaliation, for example, that a person should not be killed if the injury was limited to the loss of a limb. Mediaeval man did not interpret the Scriptures in this way. In addition to Exodus 21 verses 21:23, there was justification for revenge in Leviticus 24 verse 19 (Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth ,as he has caused a blemish in a man so it shall be done unto him again.) Deuteronomy 19 verse 21 even discourages pity, (and thine eye shall not pity but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.) Matthew 5 verse 44 that enjoins us to ‘love thine enemies, bless them that curse you ‘carried no weight in Malory’s world.

233 him until he is ‘dryvyn thereto as beste tylle a bay’.97 This is because Lancelot recognises the adherence to honour by Gawain as he sees Gawain’s bravery not as an end in itself but as the product of Gawain’s grief.

Malory, however, does not simply portray combat as the clash between equals for honour and prowess. There are passages which show the horror of warfare, as the description given by Sir Lucan of the looting and pillaging on the battlefield by ‘pyllours and robbers’ who strip the dead and who also with these ‘who were not dede all oute, there they slew them for their harneys and ryches’ 98.

Lancelot is given an excuse, almost, by Malory for his violence as he is in a rage, or ‘mad’, either way he is ‘out of his mind’. This furor is typical of the classical hero. In addition Lancelot has endured all the privations of a soldier’s life, for ‘colde, hungir and thyrste he hadde plente.’99 It is not only Malory who has compassion for Lancelot but his own followers do so as well, ‘his kin knowe for whom he went out of his mind’.

Lancelot’s conquests also result in mayhem to others, as Sir Tarquin professes to have slain ‘a hondred good knyghtes and as many I have maymed all utterly’ in his quest to get his revenge on Lancelot for killing his brother Sir Carados at the Doloreous Tower.100

Malory knows that when men follow honour but not goodness in a secular world, the golden age has ended. The mourning after Arthur’s death is universal,

It byfelle in grete anger and unhap that stynted not til the floure of chyvalry of all the world was destroyed and slayn.

For Malory the tragedy of Arthur and Lancelot and indeed the Fellowship of the Round Table is not simply the changing nature of man’s destiny or the failure of secular heroes

97 Ibid. Book xx section 20 page 703 lines23 to 30. 98 Ibid. Book xx section 4 page 714 lines 20 to 25. 99 Ibid Book xi section 10 page 490 line 6. 100 Ibid Book vi section 8 page 158 line21 and 22

234 to achieve the spiritual quest for the Grail. For him it is a human drama brought about by the clash of loyalties. It is Lancelot’s loyalty to Guinevere which causes him, in an act of rashness, to kill the man he loved most, Gareth, and it is grief, not just vindictiveness, which turns Gareth’s brother Gawain against the man he admires most, Lancelot. Malory sees Arthur’s affection for both men as human greatness of the heroic spirit which is both the cause and the victim of tragic folly. All three heroes Arthur, Lancelot and Gawain commit violent acts when prey to ‘furor’ a wrath similar to that which compels Achilles and Aeneas to commit sanguinary deeds.

Malory’s elegy for the passing of Arthurian knighthood, for the golden age of the fellowship of hero knights is based squarely on Lancelot not Arthur. In the threnody of Sir Ector 101 Lancelot is measured by the physical and secular standards of a ‘gentleman’, thus the shift in hero from warrior king to warrior gentleman is complete. The rhetorical anaphora measures Lancelot by human rather than divine yardsticks, ‘thou were the truest friende to thy lovar’,…’thou were the jentyllest that ever ete in hall’ the strongest knight and the kindest man. The outpouring of sentiment is all too human and genuine and ‘there was wepyng and dolour out of mesure’.

As befits the epic genre, the Morte does not portray the hero solely in the persons of Lancelot and Arthur, but it has a host of secondary characters who exhibit the qualities of a hero to a lesser degree. These characters allow Malory to explore his ambivalence towards the hero by showing either Lancelot or Arthur in situations with these ‘lesser’ but nevertheless heroic men.

One such ambivalent character is Gawain, Arthur’s favourite cousin. In the French texts he is a typical Christian knight whereas in the English texts his desire for revenge sullies his knighthood. In Sir Gawaine and The Green Knight for example he uses magical powers in his duel with Lancelot. In the Morte he is a dark, somewhat malevolent character and yet Merlin, in The Coming of Arthur refers to him as the man whom Lancelot loved best. When Gawain joins the Round Table he is a good knight who does

101 Ibid Book xxi section 13 page 725 lines 16 to 26 The full text of the threnody is in Appendices

235 worthy service for his kinsman Arthur, both at home and in the campaign against the Romans. However, he has already slain a lady, albeit by accident and had been entreated by the ladies of the Court to be courteous and always to show mercy. He has a bad reputation with women. Elaine’s father would not allow her to be in the same room as Gawain (603:41) and the lady who accompanies him on his adventurers ‘coude say but lytyll worship of hym’(109:12). Gawain does not help Pelleas to gain the Lady Ettard’s love, instead he beds her himself (103:1,5.)

The death of Sir Pelinor and the murder of Sir Lamorak are to his discredit. Gawain had sought revenge on Pelinor, who had killed Gawain’s father in battle. As Pelinor is Lumorak’s father, he too falls victim to this barbaric and unheroic blood feud.

Sir Tristram describes Gawain’s family, with the exception of Sir Gareth as ‘the grettyste distroyers and murtherars of good knyghts that is now in the realme of Inglelonde’.102 Even his brother Gareth avoids him

for he was ever vengeable and where he hated he woulde be avenged with murther…and that he hated sir Gareth as he withdrew himself from his brother’s fellowship.103

When Gawain wants to go on the Grail quest, Galahad will not ride with him.

Gawain’s desire for revenge and his grief combine in his enmity with Lancelot which leads to his death. Malory, however, does not leave him in disgrace. In his letter of atonement to Lancelot, Gawain refers ‘to all the love that ever was betwyxte us’ and weeping at his tomb, Lancelot describes Gawain as ‘a full noble knyght as ever was born.’104 Lancelot donates ‘an hundred pound’ for ‘to sange Massis Requiem’ for Gawain. Arthur also laments Gawain as the man in the world that he loved most.

102 Ibid Book x section55 page 422 lines 35-38 103 Ibid Book vii section34 page225 20-22 lines 104 Ibid Book xxi section8 page718 lines26-27.Lancelot referring to Gawain’s farewell letter asking pardon, says ‘hys doleful wordes shall never go from my harte,’

236

Gareth, unwittingly slain by Lancelot, actually is much favoured by him. He is referred to in the Morte as Gareth of Orkney and his ‘nickname’ is ‘Beaumayns’; while he does appear in other works on the Arthurian legend, the particular portrayal of this character is largely Malory’s invention. When Lancelot recollects that he had made him a knight, as ‘passyng noble and trew curteyse and jentill and well-condicionde’105 Lancelot is consumed with grief for Gareth, the most humble of knights. Earlier, after Sir Gareth had proved himself in battle Lancelot praised him to Sir Bors saying he was ‘meke and mylde, no manner of male engynne (malice) but playne, faythfull and trew’ 106.

Gareth had learnt humility by spending a year incognito as a scullion in the kitchens of Camelot. In Book vii his forethought, patience and restraint are shown by his deeds. Dame Lynet asks the Court for assistance in rescuing her sister Dame Lyones who is besieged in her castle by an evil knight. When Gareth offers to accomplish this deed, the reaction is one of incredulity,

What dost thou here? Thou stinkest of all the kitchen; thy clothes be bawdy of grease and tallow….What art thou but a husk and a turner of broaches and a ladle washer?

Gareth states simply ‘I shall finish it to the end, either I shall die therefore.’ It all turns out well as Gareth falls in love with Dame Lyones and it is requited, willingly.

Sir Bors, a close kinsman of Sir Lancelot, is the wisest of knights. He advises Lancelot not to go to the Queen’s chamber as Arthur has set a trap for him and that his going ‘I drede me soore of some treson…. shall wratth us all’.107 Lancelot chides him that he will not be a coward and stay away when the queen has summoned him. Bors, however is completely loyal to Lancelot, indeed encourages him to rescue the queen when she has been charged with treason lest Lancelot be shamed forever. He joins Lancelot in the

105 Ibid Book xx section 16 page 696 lines 4 and 5. 106 Ibid Book xviii section 18 page 658 lines 4 to 6. 107 Ibid Book xx section 2 page 675 line29 to 34.

237 religious life after the death of Arthur and Malory tells us that together they ‘rede in bookes and holpe for to synge masse’ and ‘dyd lowly al maner of servyce’108 and symbolically their horses are turned loose, as ‘they toke no regard of no worldly rychesses.’

Another knight who is used by Malory to provide a further example of chivalrous heroism is Sir Dinadan. He is rather ordinary as far as his prowess at arms is concerned as he knows he can get hurt, but he has exemplary moral vision which makes him a touchstone for measuring worthiness in others. He reports for the reader the unspoken words of others, a useful literary device as Malory presents set speeches and actions rather than the thoughts and motives of the characters. Dinadan appears also in the French Romances where he speaks of pleasure rather than unrequited love. In the prose Tristram, he says that he has never lost his heart but hears it beat and move about his bosom.

Another ambivalent hero type is Sir Palomides, the Saracen who is an outsider by race and faith as well as by his lustful desire for the Lady Isolde. His passion makes him, in turn, love and hate his rival, Sir Tristram. After one mighty encounter between the two, Sir Palomides renounces his claim on Isolde after yielding to Tristram who spares his life. In gratitude, Palomides becomes a Christian with Tristram as godfather. He supports Lancelot against Arthur because of his sense of fair play. Even though he is Christened he does not go in search of the grail, but instead, as his quest, he follows after the Questing Beast.109

Sir Kay, who was Arthur’s boyhood companion as Arthur was brought up by Sir Kay’s father after being entrusted to him by Merlin, is portrayed in an equally ambivalent manner. He first appears as a deceitful youth, wanting to claim the throne of England by pretending that it was he and not Arthur who drew the sword from the stone. Later, when Arthur is King, Kay becomes the trusted Seneschal of the Realm and performs great feats

108 Ibid Book xxi section 10 page 722 lines 15 and 16. 109 Ibid Book xii section 14 page 510 line 44.

238 of arms. In Book vii, however, he is a churlish mocker who is unhorsed easily by the young Gareth.

The roll call of the hundred heroes of the Round Table Fellowship is given at length when Sir Urry’s wound is to be examined.110 However, two more knights are worthy of note. The first is Sir Tristram, a most accomplished knight who spent seven years in France and learnt the language and nurture and deeds of arms there. On his return home to his father King Meliodas, Tristram became a harp player surpassing all others and became greatly skilled in hawking and hunting. Malory tells us that the book on Beasts of Venery was named after him.111 Tristram is significant as a foil for Lancelot in his love for King Mark’s wife Isolde. In Tristram’s case however he falls in love after drinking a love potion, whereas Lancelot is completely responsible for his feelings for Guinevere. Tristram is treacherously murdered by King Mark with a’ trencheaunte glayve’ (sharp spear) while playing the harp for ‘la Beale Isode’. There is a sad note of personal experience in Malory’s description of Sir Tristram’s imprisonment at the hands of Sir Darras.

So sir Trystram endured there grete payne, for syknes had undirtakehym, and that ys the grettist payne a prisoner may have. For all the whyle a presonere may have hys helth of body, he may endure undir the Mercy of God and in the hope of good delyveraunce; but when syknes towchith a presoner’s body, than may a prisoner say all welth ys hym berauffe, and that hath cause to wayle and wepe.Ryght so ded sir Trystram whan syknes had unirtake hym, for than he toke such sorrow that he had allmoste slayne hymselff.112

Generally, Tristram is portrayed as even-tempered and forgiving as well as being a strong fighter. Like Homeric heroes, Tristram and his fellow knights fight like wild bulls or

110 Ibid Book xix section 11 pages 665 to 667. Note that in Book xxi section 13, page 726 line 12 the number of Round Table Knights is given as 140. 111 Ibid Book vii section3 page 252 lines3 to 14. The most famous mediaeval book of game animals (red deer, hare, boar etc.) by Dame Julian Berners ( Folio Society ‘Bestiary’ London 1969) quotes Sir Tristram as its pre-eminent authority. 112 Book ix section 37 page 333 lines11-18.

239 rams, or on one occasion ‘he fared among those knights like a greyhound among the conies’.

Sir Percival of Gales and his brother Sir Lamorake, sons of King Pellinor are ‘passyng good men as ony lyvyng; save one in thys worlde they shall have no felowis in prouesse and of good lyvyng.’113 Percival’s father was killed before his birth and perhaps this makes his mother very protective although this characteristic of a caring mother is common with heroes such as Achilles, Aeneas and Odysseus. She is like a woman distraught when Percival tells her of the thrill he felt when he first saw mounted armed men. ‘Hit ys oure kynde to haunte armys and noble dedys.’ She replies, ‘my dere swete sonne I thought I coulde shielde you so well from knyghthode that you would not heare of hit.114‘ Percival accompanies Galahad on the Grail quest, defeats the Devil as Serpent, Stallion and Seductress and is present at the final manifestation of the Grail. In the earlier, French version, the Queste del Saint Graal of Chrétien de Troyes it is Percival, not Galahad, who is the chosen knight. His purity, innocence and virginity are acknowledged in the Morte but Percival does not achieve the status of divine knight. For example, he does not solve, unlike in the French version, the riddle of ‘le roi pecher’ (King Pecheur in the Morte), the Fisher King, who as the father of King Pelles is Galahad’s great-grandfather.

Percival, after witnessing the death of Galahad and the assumption into heaven of the Grail cup and spear, retired to a hermitage and ‘toke religious clothyng’ and after ‘a full holy lyff than passed oute of the worlde’115and is buried with Galahad in the Spiritual Palace. Malory appreciates Percival’s spiritual prowess but his passage to heaven is not as dramatic as that of the reformed sinner Lancelot: no mere passing for him, angels throw the gates of heaven open to receive his soul.

In Malory’s world of strict hierarchies of prowess and goodness it is proper that it should be Galahad, the son of Lancelot and a more perfect version of his father, who achieves

113 Ibid Book i section 24 page 34 lines36 and 37. 114 ‘Morte Arthur’ op.cit supra book xx line 7 page 681,693. 115 Ibid Book xvii section 23 page 607 lines 17 and 21.

240 the ultimate quest, that of the Holy Grail. Like Arthur, the other ‘chosen’ hero in the Morte, Galahad is begotten with the aid of witchcraft. Lancelot is on an adventure and stops at the castle of King Peles, who has a daughter named Elaine. One of the castle’s ladies, Dame Brusen, drugs Lancelot’s wine so that he perceives Elaine’s visage as that of his beloved Queen Guinevere. He spends the night with Elaine who is ‘right glad’ as she knows that Lancelot has ‘bygotyn Sir Galahad upon her that sholde preve the beste knyght of the worlde.’ 116 Upon waking, Lancelot drew his sword and threatened Elaine with death as he is ‘shamed’. Elaine, ‘all naked’ skipped out of bed and kneeling explained that their issue will be the most noble knight in the world,

Well, seyde Sir Lancelot, I woll forgyff you. And therewyth he toke her up in his armys and kyssed her for she was a fayre lady and thereto lusty and yonge.117

As is characteristic of heroes, Galahad is brought up apart from his father, in his grandfather’s castle and even by a group of nuns. On a visit to king Pelles, Sir Bors Lancelot’s cousin, sees the infant Galahad in his mother’s arms and ‘and ever hym seemed hit was passyng lyke Sir Lancelot’ and he wept for joy.118

When Galahad comes to Camelot to be knighted and to join the Fellowship of Heroes at the Round Table, the knights note that ‘he resembled much unto Sir Lancelot’. The moment is especially poignant as Galahad is led to the Seige Perilous, the seat at the table which is instant death to anyone who sits there, except for the destined occupant who will achieve the ultimate quest ,that of the ‘Grael’.119 The letters on the seat read ‘THYS YS THE SYEGE OF SIR GALAHAD THE HAWTE PRYNCE’.

Galahad possesses all the prerequisites of the hero, including physical beauty. When Lancelot prepares him for the ceremony of investiture to knighthood, he says of his son,

116 Ibid Book xi section 3 page 480 line 20. 117 Ibid Book xi section 3age 481 lines 1 to 4. 118 Ibid.Book xi section 4 page 482 line21. 119 Ibid.Book xiii section 4 page 519 line 40.

241 ‘God make you a good man, for beaute fayleth you none as ony that ys now lyvynge’.120 Galahad’s qualities are the manifestation of his fate and destiny foreseen by his mother Elaine even before he was conceived, he is to become the Sainted Knight.

When Galahad and Gawaine arrive at a hermitage in the final stages of the Grael quest, the ‘good man’ hermit draws a comparison between the two knights. Galahad,

is a mayde and synned never and that ys the cause he shall enchyve whereto he goth that ye none such shall ever attayne.

Celibacy and virginity are the signs of spiritual perfection in Malory also and not just in the French cycle. The ‘good man’ points out to Gawaine additional reasons for Galahad’s worthiness. He is an unbeatable warrior, yet ‘hys livyng is such that he sle no man lyghtly.’ Gawaine is urged to do penance to atone for his sins but he replies, ‘I may do no penaunce, for we knyghtes adventures many tymes suffir grete woo and payne.’ With grim irony Malory has the ‘good man’ show some judgement in replying to this prickly warrior, ‘Well, seyde the good man, and than he hylde hys pece.’121

After the ecstasy of the vision of the Grael, Galahad bids farewell to his two companions, Percival and Bors, and ‘a grete multitude of angels bare (his soul) to hevyn even in the syght of hys two felowis.’122 Percival turns to the religious life, as there are now no more heroic deeds worthy of him. Bors returns to Camelot to tell Lancelot of Galahad’s apotheosis. It is not lost on audiences of the Morte that Malory accords to Galahad, Lancelot’s son, the success which is denied so completely to Gawain, Arthur’s nephew. Worthiness and high lineage are not sufficient unless they are coupled with goodness.

120 Ibid.Book xiii section 2 page 516 lines 20 and 21. 121 Ibid Book xii section 16 page 535 lines6 to 25. 122 Ibid.Book xvii section 22 page 607 lines 6 to 8.

242 Not all knights in the Morte aspire to worthiness and worship derived from adherence to the oath of knighthood, to ‘never do outerage, nothir mourthir, and allwayes to fle treson’, nor to ‘take batayles in wrongefull quarell’123.

The ‘bad’ knights are described by Malory with adjectives such as ‘shameful’; ‘false’; ‘traitorous’; ‘recreant’; ‘cowardly’ and ‘sans pitie’ (merciless). Sir Perys de Forest Sauvage is a ‘theff’ and a ‘ravysher of women’.124 Sir Brunys saunze Pyte is ‘the moste myschevuste (wicked) knyghte lyvynge’.125

A significant malevolent presence in the Morte is that of Aggravayne, son of Arthur’s sister who is the wife of King Lot of Orkney. He is a darker character than his brother Gawaine, who at least dies repentant for the grief he has caused to Guinevere and is reconciled with Lancelot. Aggravayne appears motivated by his evil will when he kills the good knight Dinadan and when he murders King Lanorake in pursuit of a blood feud. At Court ‘every night and day (he) awaited Quene Guinevere and Sir Lancelot to put them both to rebuke and shame’.126 He sets out to spread gossip and slander about the Queen ‘for he was ever opynne-mowthed’.127 He forces Arthur to act against the Queen because of his hatred for Lancelot and Arthur reluctantly accuses Guinevere while he reproaches Aggravayne ‘Jesu forgyff hit thy soule, for thyne evyll wyll that now haddist unto Sir Lancelot hath caused all this sorrow’.128 Aggravayne is aided in his mischief by Mellygaunt whose prime motive for his actions is his lust for Guinevere, which he kept in check because of his fear of Lancelot. Nevertheless, he abducts her while she is riding with a small escort of knights and after a bloody ambush he forces Guinevere into his

123 Ibid Book iii section 15 page 75 lines37 to end .The Oath is provided in full in the Appendices. There are many striking similarities between the strictures of Knighthood and the values contained in the Oath taken by those joining the French Foreign Legion (La Legion Etrangere) ‘A Legionary acknowledges that each Legionnaire is your brother in arms. He swears ‘to respect traditions and your superiors; discipline and friendship are your strengths; courage and honesty are your virtues; you are well mannered and smart; you are an elite soldier who is rigorous with himself. Your weapon is your most precious possession; your mission is sacred. It is carried out until the end in respect of the law and the customs of war, if needs be at the risk of your life. In combat, you are without passion or hatred. You respect vanquished enemies. You never surrender your dead, your wounded or your weapons.’ Source, Website of ‘La Legion Étrangère’ 124 Ibid. Book vi section 10 page 160 lines10 and 11. 125 Ibid Book x section 1 page 345 lines 1 and 2. 126 Ibid Book xix section 13 page 669 lines 18 to 20. 127 Ibid. Book xviii section 1 page 611 line19. 128 Ibid .Book xx section 9 page 685 lines36 and 37.

243 castle while she protests that he ‘shamest all knyghthoode’. Eventually, it is Lancelot not Arthur who rescues Guinevere and kills Mellygaunt.129

The sins of the fathers are visited tenfold on Mordred, the illegitimate son of Arthur begotten on his half sister Morgause, wife of King Lot. When she is visiting the Court, Arthur ‘cast great love unto her and desired to lie with her’ not knowing that she is his sister.130 Mordred is the result of a union that is both incestuous and adulterous. .Merlin predicts to Arthur that a child born on May Day would destroy him. In an action reminiscent of the Biblical Murder of the Innocents by King Herod, Arthur collects all the children of noble born Lords and Ladies and sets them adrift on a ship on the high seas and ‘some were four weeks old and some less’. The ship founders and only Mordred survives the shipwreck. He is brought up in obscurity until the age of fourteen by a ‘good man’ who saved him. In a remarkable example of blame shifting which would be beyond the abilities of even the most inventive of present day ‘spin doctors’, Malory calmly notes that the Lords and Ladies of the realm were ‘displeased’ at the loss of their children. Nevertheless, they blamed Merlin rather than Arthur for this unheroic act of selfish barbarity. ‘So what for drede and for love they helde their pece’.131

Throughout the Morte, Mordred seethes with malevolence and envy and shows no redeeming qualities. He is instrumental in causing the break between Lancelot and Arthur. He is consumed with lust for Guinevere and attempts to force her to marry him and to seize the throne in Arthur’s absence from the realm.

An example of Mordred’s vicious violence is the murder of Sir Dinadan who is the archetypal ‘good knight’. Malory tells us that ‘he loved all good knyghtes that were valyaunte and he hated all tho that were destroyers of good knyghts…that ever were called murtherers’. After an unequal combat of three against one, Mordred

129 Ibid Book xix section1 page 650, 651. See also footnote number 82. 130 Ibid Book I section 19 page 27 line 41 and 42. 131 Ibid Book I section 27 page 37 lines23 to 25.

244 cowardly and felonsly slew Sir Dinadan, which was grete damage for he was a grete bourder (jocular person, a jester) and a passynge good knyght.132

It is Mordred who leads the great host against Arthur and at the conclusion of a dreadful hand-to-hand combat the two men kill each another: Sir Bedivere is the only knight to survive this holocaust of the world of epic heroes, of Arthur and the fellowship of the Table Round.133 Malory’s imagination and sensitivities are very much an English version of the French originals. It has some of the qualities of ‘Englishness’ discussed as the imagination of ‘Albion’, described by Peter Ackroyd. 134 He defines the art derived from Anglo Saxon sensibilities as one

that eschews purity of function for elaboration of form, that strays continuously into anecdote and detail that distrusts massiveness of conception or of interest that avoids depth of feeling or profundity or argument in favour of artifice and of rhetorical display.

The Morte is certainly replete with stylistically rhetorical displays and of wonderful artifice.

Malory’s Arthur is a cuckold yet he heads the holy brotherhood of the Table Round and dreams of a world in which justice is more significant than strength. Arthur and his story are at the core of the English national heroic myth, especially for those of Celtic origin for whom this story has been striated with sensations of loss and transitoriness. It is an expression of native sensibility touched with melancholy, yet with determination and endurance. It is for this reason that some say that Arthur will come again and that all must

132 Ibid Book x section 25 page 379 lines26 to 45 passim. 133 Ibid Book xxi section 4 page 712 to 714.(the final battle). 134 Peter Ackroyd ‘Albion: The Search for the English Imagination’ Chatto & Windus, London 1997 page 21

245 be endured until that golden time returns. Until then, the reader is left the legacy of Malory which Robert Graves has called ‘an enchanted sea for the reader to swim in’.135

Malory’s depiction of heroism as secular chivalry, as opposed to the spiritual heroism and worthy love of the French Cycle, is an expression of the inner virtues of an ideal society; a model for a society that must continue to endure evil. Such a society can strive to surpass human frailty and provide a defining and heroic framework in which earthly men and women can seek a worldly rather than a divine perfection. The palpable loss felt at the end of the Morte is testimony to the success of chivalric heroic values: the plangent tone of ‘ubi sunt’, where are they now, where has it all gone, especially the brotherly bonds of the Fellowship. When Malory’s characters renounce honour, because ironically the pursuit of honour has destroyed their society, they renounce all worldly things.136 It is possible thus to understand the view of T.H. White who reads the central theme of Malory as the quest for an antidote to war, yet Arthur finds himself up to his elbows in blood. 137

Arthur’s death, unlike that of the redeemed and shriven Lancelot who has forsaken knighthood and become a priest, is the greatest adventure, shrouded as it is in the same mystery and magic of the realm once ruled over by King Arthur and Merlin, with faerie damsels and magic swords. It is also a release from the last days of the Kingdom bathed in blood and slaughter.

This Arthuriad and the Matter of Britain is the pinnacle of epic writing in English. Malory used extreme abbreviation and suppressed moments of introspection and sentimentality. He greatly reduced the passages of religious expression and of accounts of magical phenomena and wizardry as Merlin has an early exit from the Morte.

135 Keith Barnes ‘Sir Thomas Malory’s’ Le Morte d’Arthur’; a rendition in modern idiom’, with an introduction by Robert Graves. George Harry and Co. Ltd. London 1962. Page 17 136Richard Martin Gray ‘A study of Knighthood in Malory’s Works’ op. cit supra page 86. 137Geoffrey Ashe ‘King Arthur, The Dream of a Golden Age’ Thames Hudson London 1990. Page 27, a comment on ‘The once and future King’(1958) by T.H. White Collins London and ‘The sword in the stone’ 1938.

246 Malory enhances material endeavours and in particular the chivalrous values and heroism of Lancelot. The characterization of the lesser knights shows a great range of moral and emotional subtlety. The variety of tone, the strength of the dialogue of both men and women, gives the Morte the charm that becomes all the more obvious when the work is read aloud.

The war against Lucius has the chauvinistic passion of the Hundred Years’ war and has some of the pomposity of Anglo Saxon prose, glorifying conquest and cruelty, reflecting its debt to the Alliterative Morte Arthur’. In contrast, the treatment of the Sangreal tale is austere, it disapproves of slaughter and breathes the spirit of its Cistercian model. However, the treatment of the hero and its associated themes by Malory in the Morte is the apotheosis of the presentation of this material.

What follows the Morte is inferior in content and quality. Without the shaping theme of Arthur and the Round Table and its associated heroes, in the words of Richard Barber, ‘the chivalric romance becomes verbose and self indulgent, piling marvel upon marvel without any real purpose’.138

Cervantes could well have agreed with Barber as his novel confirms this point. Don Quixote is a burlesque of chivalry and the epic hero, while conforming to the epic formula, is not of a world which has any verisimilitude. Using the character of the Canon of Toledo as his alter ego, Cervantes calls such fantastical epics ‘notorious nonsense, monsters without feet nor head’.139 Just as chivalry began to lose its place in the real world, so do its literary incarnations become relics of a past age and 16th Century authors once more turn to classical historical literature for their models.

Yet, the appeal of Arthurian material remains undimmed. It is interesting to note that over two hundred novels have been written with the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle as its centre.

138Richard Barber ‘The Reign of Chivalry’, op.cit supra page 69 139 Miguel Cervantes ‘Don Quixote’ Volume I, J .M. Dent & Son, Aldine House London. 1962. Pages 391 to 394

247

Regarding the historical Arthur, there are almost as many books, about one hundred and sixty, as there are theories, from the plausible to the crackpot.

There is even a comic book hero based on the Knights of the Round Table, named Prince Valiant. He was drawn by the Canadian-American Hal Foster (1892-1982) and first appeared in 1936. He has survived his creator and is now drawn by Gary Gianni. The strip is still syndicated in three hundred newspapers throughout the English-speaking world.140

There are at least thirty satires and parodies of the Round Table story, ranging from the Monty Python film141to a study that portrays Winnie the Pooh as Merlin and Christopher Robin as Arthur.142Pooh has the rôle of ‘shape-shifter’, ‘wondering what it felt like being someone else’. As Merlin, Pooh provides Christopher Robin with advice as ‘Arthur’, though well-meaning, courteous and honourable, has faulty judgment. Christopher Robin also wears blue braces, equated to the ribbon of the Order of the Garter. He also plans a quest, an ‘Expotition to the North Pole’ that requires ‘Big Boots being put on’. There is even reference to an encounter with the Questing Beast, the Heffalump.143 At quest’s end there is an Avalon for the young at heart; ‘in an enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his bear will always be playing’.

Before leaving the Morte and its masculine heroes it is illuminating to look briefly at the rôle of women in this particular epic and to note the differences with the treatment accorded women by the classical composers of epic.144 Just as women in classical epic exhibit only the qualities ‘proper’ for a woman, so do the ladies of the Morte display

140 Don Markstein’s ‘Toonopedia’ website www.toonopedia.com 141 Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975.In addition to Sir Lancelot the Brave and Sir Galahad the Pure there was also among the Knights Sir Robin Not-Quite as-Brave-as Sir Lancelot. One of the authors, Eric Idle has followed this film with an equally successful musical based on it, ‘Spamalot’. 142 John Tyerman Williams ‘Pooh and the Ancient Mysteries’ Methuen 1997 143 Malory’s version is equally intimidating ‘he thoughte he herde a noyse of howundis to the sum of thirty and with that the Kynge saw com to warde hym the strongeste beste that he ever saw or herde of.’ 144 Lee R .Edwards ‘Psyche as hero; Female heroism in fictional form, Wesleyan University Press, Connecticut 1984.

248 virtues in accordance with the etiquette of ‘Courtly Love’, they are either virtuous or evil, with no grey area. The cult of the Virgin Mary, growing in importance since the late the 12th century is bound closely with the human symbols of Courtly Love. Woman is an unattainable spiritual ideal while the man carries the burden of the wayward flesh which has to be controlled if he is to win the love of a woman who is worthy of him. The woman may be desired but this desire cannot be consummated as such and act would destroy the woman’s virtue and remove her from the pedestal on which she has been placed for worship.145

In Malory’s world, patriarchy and patristic Christianity disempowered women, yet Malory allows them to have sexual desire and to act on it (usually with dire consequences), they are social beings attending feasts and pageants, jousts and revels where they display their rich attire which makes them such a prized trophy for their Lord. Women are separated form the military world of men but they are active agents in advancing the plot and they are given substantial passages of dialogue. In contrast, it has been already noted that Aeneas’ Lavinia is silent and Dido, while a powerful and unforgettable character, is really peripheral to the key concerns of the Aeneid.

Guinevere, whose name means ‘White Wave ‘in Welsh146 is a fully fledged protagonist in the Morte. Arthur marries this daughter of King Lodgreaunce of Carmelide against the advice of the prescient Merlin who warns Arthur of the grief that this union will cause. Much of Book III is devoted to the nuptials and to the Round Table that Guinevere brings as a wedding gift. However, Guinevere falls in love with Lancelot and ‘ had hym in grete favoure aboven all other knyghts’ and thus is formed what is the best known and most tragic love triangle of epic. The love of Guinevere for Lancelot is as constant and loyal as any in the Courtly Love tradition but it has disastrous consequences. Because of this sin, Lancelot fails to achieve the Grail. The Round table is destroyed and in her adieu speech

145C.S. Lewis ‘The Allegory of Love; A study in Mediaeval Tradition’(1936) Oxford Paperbacks 1999 passim 146 The name is written as ‘Gwenyver ‘in the Morte. This is the prevailing form of the name which is first used in Chretien de Troyes’s ‘Lancelot’ of 1170.In early Welsh tradition she is Gwenhwyvar, the First Lady of the Island. In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work she was a Roman Lady called Guanhumera. In modern versions, the name is variously spelled Guinivere and Guinevere.

249 to Lancelot, Guinevere holds herself culpable for the bitter dissention that led to such a catastrophe,

thorow thys same man (Lancelot) and me hath all thys warre be wrought and the deth of the moste nobleste knights of the worlde: for throw oure love…ys my moste noble lorde slayne.147

There are echoes in Guinevere’s guilt laden speech of Helen’s expression of remorse that as a consequence of her actions with Paris, Troy has been destroyed and so many have been slain.

It is because of the split with Arthur caused by the love triangle that Lancelot returns to Britain too late to save his liege king from the final confrontation with Mordred and his rebellious host. However, it is Mordred’s evil desire for power and not the love of Guinevere for Lancelot that results in the end of Arthur’s world.

Lancelot saves Guinevere three times from mortal peril. The first time she has been accused of murder and is on the pyre when Lancelot cuts her free in a dramatic rescue. 148 In the next Book, a retelling of the Knight in the Cart adventure, Guinevere is kidnapped by the wicked Sir Mellygaunt. It is not Arthur but Lancelot who rides to save the Queen from being ravished by this evil knight. To affect this rescue, Lancelot has to use a cart as transport, a mode of travel unfit for the status of a knight. Lancelot is compelled to do this because thirty of Mellygaunt’s archers have shot his horse full of arrows. Guinevere is saved and Lancelot strikes the kidnapper’s ‘helmet such a buffet that the stroke carved the hed into two partyes’.149

After Guinevere is accused of treason and adultery by Sir Aggravayne and she is again tied to the stake, Lancelot rescues her for the third time and kills the forty knights

147 Book xix page 663 line 11. 148 Book xviii passim 149 Book xxi page 720 lines 15-16.

250 guarding her in the process. The charge of adultery claims that Guinevere is with a wounded knight in the Queen’s own chamber. The blood stain is from Lancelot’s own blood as he is that very knight. Malory is not specific as to ‘whethyr they were abed or at othyr manner of dyscourse’. Guinevere shows great courage in this episode, as she knows that both her body and her soul are at risk. When Sir Aggravyane bursts into the chamber she fears that ‘I will be slayne and that I shall be brente’150yet she is prepared to sacrifice herself ‘I wolde that they take me and sle me and suffer you (Lancelot) to escape’. There is no need as Lancelot kills Aggravayne and ‘twelve of hys felowys’ and after bestowing a brief kiss on Guinevere ‘he wente untyll hys lodgynge’.

Lancelot takes Guinevere to his castle at Joyous Gard but returns her to Arthur upon command from the Pope. Arthur does not pursue the issue of Guinevere’s innocence as this would involve trial by combat and her champion would be Lancelot.

After Arthur’s death, Guinevere repents her sins and takes the veil of a nun. There is considerable pathos in her final meeting with Lancelot. 151She asks him to return to France and to ‘take ye a wyf and lyff with joy and blys’. Lancelot protests saying he will ‘never be so false unto you of that I have promysed’. He will take Holy Orders instead and asks Guinevere for a parting kiss. ‘Nay’sayd the queen, that shal I never do, but absteyne you from suche werkes’.152

Unlike Tennyson, Malory presents Guinevere sympathetically, reminding audiences that she was ‘a trew lover and therefore she had a good ende’, meaning that her soul was saved. Guinevere is portrayed as realistic about the vicissitudes of love; when Tristram marries the daughter of the King of Britanny, Guinevere advises the distraught Isolde that men are often tricked into marriage but that they return to their former lovers.

Guinevere is the pitiful victim of clashing forces, yet she is strong enough and clever enough to save herself from Mordred’s clutches when he wants to marry her so that he

150 Book xx page 676 and page 678. 151 ibid Page 519-521. 152 Book xxi page 721

251 can take over the throne from Arthur. She rejects the vanities of the world and inspires Lancelot to do likewise; she is strong in her resolution to forbid Lancelot from ever seeing her again after she has become a nun. After her death, she asks to be buried with Arthur.153

The essence of Guinevere’s greatness is in her perception that her virtue is enough. The love she gives is ennobling, perhaps selfish at the beginning but generous at the end. The result of Malory’s depiction of Guinevere, drawing as it does on both the ‘Alliterative’ version and the ‘Vulgate’, makes it impossible for future representations of Guinevere to paint her as simply an adulteress or as a femme fatale. By showing Guinevere as the culmination of the Mediaeval legends Malory has provided a template for all subsequent depictions of her, one that even Tennyson and his Victorian values of womanly virtue cannot ignore.

Another woman worthy of comment is Elaine as someone who is crushed by the unrequited love she bestows on Lancelot.154 He is riding to a tournament at Camelot155 and stops at the castle of Bernard of Astolat, Elaine’s father. She is filled with desire for Lancelot who agrees to wear her ‘token’ (generally a scarf) at the tournament. Elaine believes that this is a sign of Lancelot’s love, but she is mistaken, as he wants to use both the token and her brother’s shield cover as a disguise for his identity as he wishes to compete incognito. In this tournament, Lancelot is grievously wounded and he is nursed back to health by Elaine. During his convalescence, he rejects her love, she pines and dies of a broken heart. She leaves a letter to be read in Court that she died a ‘clene majdyn’ and asks Lancelot to pray for her soul, as he is ‘pereles’. She is placed on a barge covered in black samite156 and floats down the river to Westminster.

153 Arthur does not have a ‘tomb’ as he was taken to Avalon. This discrepancy was apparently of no concern to Malory. 154 This is Malory’s name for the Fair Maid of Astolat who is renamed the Lady of Shallot in Tennyson’s poem. 155 ‘That ys in Englyshe called Wynchester’. ‘Malory’ Book xii Section 10 line34 page 505 156 Samite is a rich fabric made of silk interwoven with gold, from the Greek έξ six and μιτος thread. It is used frequently in the Morte for example the arm that retrieves Excalibur is clothed in white samite.

252 Even Guinevere, earlier jealous of Elaine’s attentions towards Lancelot, reproaches him for not having been kinder towards Elaine ‘ye might have shewed hir som bownte and jantilnes ahych might have preserved hir lyff.’ Tennyson uses this story in both Elaine (1859) and The Lady of Shallot (1833) as examples of true though unrealistic love, doomed to fail.

The other Elaine in the Morte is a much more significant character, but equally doomed in her love for Lancelot. She is the daughter of King Pelles and Lancelot frees her from five years of torment caused by a spell that has been cast on her by the envious Morgan le Fay, jealous of Elaine’s beauty. With the assistance of magic provided by her handmaid, Dame Brusen, Elaine tricks Lancelot into sharing her bed and while under this enchantment Galahad is conceived. When Guinevere learns of this, she is ‘wrothe’, she cannot sleep ‘she writhed and walterd as a madde women’ and ‘she gaff many rebukes to sir Laucelott and called hym a false knight.’157 The realization of the anguish that results from this deed drives Lancelot insane and he runs mad for two years as a deranged feral dweller of the wilderness. Guinevere reacts in a practical way and she sends Lancelot’s brother Ector, Bors, and Percival to search for Lancelot, giving them ‘tresur ynough for theyr expenses’. When Lancelot is eventually found, Ector tells him that ‘hyt hath coste my lady quene twenty thousand pounds the seekynge of you’158 Arthur believes that Lancelot was deranged because of Elaine but ‘all Sir Launcelottys kynnesmen knew for whom he wente oute of hys mynde’

The truly dangerous woman in this epic is Morgan Le Fay. She is Arthur’s half sister, daughter of Arthur’s mother Igraine and her first husband, the Duke of Cornwall. Morgan is ‘put to scole in a nunnery and ther she lerned so moche that she was a grete clerke in nygromancye’.159 Her motives are not made clear by Malory but he says that she ‘hated

157 Book x section 6 line 14. 158 One of the very few times that money is mentioned in the Morte. This would have been an immense sum in Malory’s time. Page 505 line 16-17 and page 506 line 7-8. 159 Morgan has a sister named Elaine who is mentioned only as the wife of King Nentres of Garlot who appears in the ‘catalogue of knights in Book xix. The third sister is Morgause. There is one more ‘Elaine’, the wife of King Ban and thus Lancelot’s mother. (Book IV).

253 the queen and Launcelott to the death’160 Throughout the Morte she is a shadowy figure intent on using her esoteric knowledge to achieve her own ends which are principally associated with revenge. Arthur kills her lover Accolon of Gaul over possession of the sword Excalibur as he had learned that Morgan had given the scabbard to Accolon earlier. This magic scabbard had the power of stopping wounds from bleeding. Arthur is saved in the duel with Accalon by the power of the Lady of the Lake who is the ‘custodian’ of the enchanted Excalibur. She uses her magic to cause the sword to fall from Accalon’s grasp so that it can be retrieved by Arthur. The scabbard is saved by Merlin who thwarts Morgan with a magic superior to hers.

Morgan later sends Arthur a poisoned cloak, but again Arthur is saved by magic, this time by that of Vivien, the Priestess of Avalon. Morgan also attempts to seduce not only Lancelot but also other Knights of the Round table including Tristram. Again, her motives are not made clear but they appear to be a demonstration of her power and her desire to humiliate these knights.

In Malory’s Morte, Morgan changes from being Arthur’s enemy to succeeding Vivien as the Priestess of Avalon and being one of the three queens who receives the dying King in the barge that is to take him to Avalon. ‘A, my dere brother! Why have ye taryed so longe frome me? Alas, thys wounde on youre hede hath caught overmuch colde’161 Perhaps, Morgan le Fay, who could not have Arthur in life, can claim him in death.

Malory states that his researches in books do not provide an explanation for the circumstances of Arthur’s final journey ‘nothir more of the veray sertaynte of hys dethe harde I never rede.’ Nevertheless, he is certain that one of the Queens was Morgan le Fay, the others being the Queen of the WasteLands and the Queen of North Wales.

160 Book i section ii passim 161 Book xxi page 716 line 15-16.

254 In later reworkings of the Arthur story, Morgan le Fay is a healer in the tradition of Celtic mythology and in one version, written from a feminine point of view162she becomes the central figure of the tales and is a positive force as a proponent of tolerance and of the worship of a mythical goddess.

The other of Arthur’s sisters, Morgause, is the one who causes him the most grief. She is the wife of King Lot and mother of the dysfunctional brothers, Gawain, Gaheris, Aggravayne and Gareth. She arrives at Camelot ‘richly beseen and passing fair’, first spies on Arthur and then sleeps with him. Mordred is the product of this union.

Morgause also engages in sexual liaison with Lamorak, described by Malory as one of the greatest knights, only Lancelot and Tristram being his betters. Gaheris discovers his mother in bed with Lamorak and in a rage, kills Morgause. Curiously, he does not slay the offending Lamorak even though Lamorak’s father, King Pellinore, had killed Gaheris’ father King Lot.

The Morte contains two passages that deal with the institution of marriage. Malory’s own voice is heard quite clearly in the first which is termed the ‘Month of May’ speech. Earlier, Lancelot states his reasons for not marrying. He has just rescued a damsel from the clutches of Sir Perys de Foreste Sauvage, ‘a theff …and a ravisher of women’. Lancelot despatches this brute ‘with suche a buffette on the helmette that he claffe his hede and necke unto the throte’163.The damsel asks Lancelot whether it is true that he does not marry because ‘hit ys noysed that ye love queen Gwynyvere and that she hath ordeyned by enchauntemente that ye shall never love more other than hir’. Tactfully, Lancelot ignores the mention of the Queen and replies that to be a ‘weddyd man’ he must abandon the profession of arms and tournaments, adventures and battles. He will not, for the sake of his soul, take his pleasure with ‘paramours’ for a knight must not be lecherous.

162 Marion Bradley ‘The Mists of Avalon’ Penguin 1979 163 Book vi section 10 lines 1-11 page 161.

255 The idea that marriage and arms are incompatible is presented by the knights to Arthur after the campaign against the Emperor Lucius has been concluded. They want to leave the field of battle and return home as’ we have wyffis wedded and wish to sporte us with our wyffis.’ Arthur agrees,’Ye say well, for inowghe is as good as a feste.’. The returning knights are met by Guinevere and ‘all other quenys and noble ladies in a most solemper meetyng’.164

The second reference to marriage is Malory’s own encomium on love.165It flourishes in May, like the flowers of nature, but it also suffers the blast of winter, becoming feeble and inconstant. Malory’s voice is heard strongly,

Nowadays can nat love sevennyght but they muste have all their desires….sone hot, sone cold. Thy sys no stabylyte. But the olde love was not so.

Malory concludes his comments with a mention of Queen Guinevere ‘that whyle she lyved she was a true lover’. This passage show a shift from sexual to knightly love, the observance of the Courtly Love etiquette of the Madonna complex is regarded as essential for young knights .The lady of the Lord of the manor must be seen by the young unmarried men in the Lord’s service to be worthy of worship but out of reach sexually. By Malory’s time, the Church, which had already long enforced celibacy in monasteries, introduced it for the secular clergy.

While it has the appeal of nostalgia for a time long gone when love was pure and constant, Malory’s comment is unrealistic and even somewhat hypocritical if he really was charged with rape on at least two occasions. Loomis says of this passage,

When Sir Thomas indited his little dithyramb in praise of May and the constancy of love he had been imbibing freely of a certain product of Bordeaux166

164 Book v pages 145-146 passim 165 Book xviii Part iv the knight of the cart pages 648-649. 166 Roger Sherman Loomis ‘The Development of Arthurian Romance’ Hutchison University Library, London 1963. page 175

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Overall, most women are presented sympathetically by Malory. They have beauty, are faithful, have rank, privilege and splendid garments and most importantly they offer love; unfortunately, it is not enough.

Our debt to Sir Thomas Malory, even if he were the Chevalier Malfait, that is to say the Knight that has Trespassed,167 is incalculable for ‘by the alchemy of his ardour and his cadence of prose (he) transformed lead and silver into gold’.168

Honour is the greatest achievement in Malory’s Arthurian society, gained, through force of arms, in combat with a worthy opponent. Ignominy is brought about by shame, the result of a dishonourable action, which is contrary to the Code of Chivalry that can be summed up as ‘worship is honour plus goodness’. The tragedy is that there is a divergence between what is honourable and what is good. The adherence by the Knights to the secular concept of chivalry and honour leads to destruction, a collapse of loyalty within the fellowship and the bonds of fellowship themselves. Loyalty is a fundamental virtue in the Morte and situations of conflicting loyalties always have a bad end. Secular chivalry is an ideal removed from the reality of power and jealousy. Malory shows how even an ideal society is brought low by the dishonourable and disloyal behaviour of petty men who should know better.

The passage spoken by the narrator of the Morte is a heartfelt cry against the fluctuating loyalties of Lancastrian and Yorkist supporters in the War of the Roses as well as a comment on the end of Arthur’s reign.

Lo ye all Englysshemen, se ye nat what myschyff here was? For he that was the moste kynge and noblest knyght of the worlde,and moste loved the felyshyp of noble knyghtes and by hym they all were upholdyn, and yet myght nat thes Englishemen holde them contente with hym. Lo thus was the olde custom and

167 Lancelot refers to himself thus to express his repentance; ‘shyvalere ill mafeete that ys to say”the knight that hath trespassed’’ ‘ 168 Roger Sherman Loomis op.cit. supra

257 usayges of thys londe,and men say that we of thys londe have nat yet loste that custom. Alas thys ys greate defaughte of us Englysshemen, for there may no thynge us plese no terme.169

Was Arthur a man or a myth? In Malory, he is a fictional version of the epic hero and Malory probably believed him to be an historical figure, if indeed he gave the matter any thought. In any case, the Arthurian matter of Britain, the actual Arthur legend rather than the ‘real’ Arthur, is most probably what Robert Graves terms ‘a blending of historical reminiscences of a British battle leader (Dux Bellorum) with a highly fanciful mythological tradition going back to pagan times.’170 Or to use an allegory,

It has been said that the Arthurian legend is like a great cathedral: built on the buried remnants of a pagan temple, with Roman foundations, a Greek structural plan, Celtic and French-Norman walls and mediaeval ornaments: not the completely executed design of one architect, but the massive edifice of half a dozen cultures one added to the other until the whole becomes greater than its parts171

Malory made no claim to learning nor to truth. His contribution to the literature of epic heroes is everlasting and best summed up by his champion, Eugene Vinaver who called him,

the great translator who attempted to remodel the French Arthurian Romances of the Middle Ages true to their legendary past yet tragically real. The pulse which beats in Malory’s prose is a measure of the power of his solitary genius and the living message of his theme, the heroic loyalty of man to man. 172

169 ‘Malory’s Works’ op.cit supra Book xxi section 1 page 708 lines 34 to 41. 170 Robert Graves, Introduction to the Morte, op.cit. supra 171 John E. Tranter ‘The knight Prisoner: The life of Sir Thomas Malory’ Radio Play, Australian Broadcasting Commission 1986 172 ‘The Tale of the Death of King Arthur, by Sir Thomas Malory’ edited by Eugene Vinaver, Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1955. Introduction, pages xii and xxv.

258 Yet, one question remains, in spite of loyalty, to what extent was the chivalry of the Round Table and indeed, Arthur himself, doomed anyway? Perhaps, by showing a contrasting image to his own society, Malory suggested to his audience that the strict adherence to a code of honour, to an ideology which is bereft of spiritual goals but which instead focuses on the vanity and selfishness of individuals who pledge loyalty to a mortal rather than to a Divine King and which results in large scale loss of life, without achieving communal benefit, is really rather empty. This could make Lancelot’s choice of loyalty visible in a different light. He rejects adherence to the Fellowship and to the King as well as to the heroic code which he has come to regard as rather barren. Instead, he gives his allegiance to Guinevere. It may be an individual and personal choice but it has some meaning. It also explains the change in focus by Malory from Arthur to Lancelot as the new hero of the Morte.

259