Department of the Classics, Harvard University

Τὁ γελοἳον in the Iliad

Author(s): Leon Golden
Source: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 93 (1990), pp. 47-57
Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
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 tb yeXoiov IN THE ILIAD

LEONGOLDEN

AT Poetics, 1448b34-38 Aristotle comments as follows on

Homer's seminal influence on both tragedyand comedy:

WaiREp Ka~
6&8 oro160aia xto'ra nRotuitiI;"ONTJlpo;Av (g6vo ;
oN X t Et,&9xXX
y&p K&ai t
w•Co oEt18 paiaztKa;& o{to);
~9ir6o1oev),
Kat TO
6ti Ko)RiQ)& aXiijLXa trpo•;io; nSrt&ev, o0 Wi6yovd•&Xx
T6yeXoiov 8paga•wrotiaoua;"

Homer's treatmentof Tx oano6a'ta in the Iliad is widely recognized,

but very little attentionhas been paid to his use of Tbyeoiov.' Aristo-
tle cites the lost Margites as the work in which Homer demonstrated
I Amidst the vast
arrayof Homeric scholarshipI have found only a limited numberof
works which devote significant attention to aspects of comic action in Homer:
R. Bespaloff, On the Iliad (Washington,D.C. 1947) 73-79; Linda L. Clader,Helen: The
Evolutionfrom Divine to Heroic in Greek Epic Tradition (Leiden 1976); Howard W.
Clarke, "The Humor of Homer," CJ 64 (1969) 246-252; H. Erbse, "Zeus und Here auf
dem Idagebirge,"Antike und Abendland XVI (1970) 96-97; Walter M. Hart, "High
Comedy in the Odyssey," Universityof California Publications in Classical Philology 13
(1943) 263-278; R. C. Hawley, "The AntiphonalMuse: Comic Sub-Themein the Iliad,"
CW 62 (1968) 81-82; G. Hess,,Uber die komischenElemente im Homer (Bunzlau 1866);
Joseph W. Hewitt (1), "Homeric Laughter,"CJ XXII (1927) 436-447; (2) "Humor in
Homer and Vergil," Joseph W. Hewitt (3), "HomericLaughter,"CW 22 (1929) 169-172,
177-181; I. M. Hohendahl-Zoetelief,Manners in the Homeric Epic (Leiden 1980); G. S.
Kirk, The Iliad: A Commentary1 Books 1-4 (Cambridge 1985); Daniel B. Levine (1),
"Iros as a Paradigmfor the Suitors,"CJ 77 (1982) 200-204; (2) "HomericLaughterand
the Unsmiling Suitors,"CJ 78 (1983) 97-104; (3) "Odysseus' Smiles: Odyssey, 20.301,
22.371, 23.111," TAPA 114 (1984) 1-9; BarbaraP. McCarthy, "Sarcasmin the Iliad,"
Classical Weekly 36 (1943) 215-216; G. Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans (Baltimore
1979) 243-264; A. Plebe, La nascita del comico nella vita e nell' arte degli antichi Gre-
chi (Bari 1956); Paul Shorey, "Homeric Laughter," CP 22 (1927) 222-223; C. A.
Trypanis, The Homeric Epics (Warminster,Wiltshire, 1977) 23. Some of this work is
rigorousand insightful while some is popularand rathersuperficial.

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48 LeonGolden

his comic skills, but impressive examples of t6 yeXoiov are found in

the extant works as well. They play an especially significantrole in the
Iliad where, I shall show, they illuminate majorthemes of the poem as
a whole.
In the passage from the Poetics quoted above we see that Aristotle
recognizes two distinct forms of comedy: (1) 6"y6o;, a primitivelevel
of comic insult or abuse and (2) the dramaticrepresentationof rbrye-
a more matureand significanttype of comedy.2Aristotle defines
,oifov,
-ro yekXoov(Poetics 1449a34-35) as a d~pZT1d• g'Kat aoao; which
is &dw'i6tvovKai o' While examples of 6 N6dyo;abound
Up•aprto6v.
throughout the Iliad in confrontation among human heroes and in
disputes among the gods, the more complex and mature form of
comedy involving the dramaticrepresentationof rboyEXoiovis found
principallyin two subplots. one of these involves Hera's crafty seduc-
tion of Zeus in Book 14, and the other relates to the idiosyncratic
behavior of Paris who ostentatiously appears in front of the Trojan
armybut immediatelyflees in starkterrorat the sight of Menelaos, who
laughs merrily after superficiallywounding Diomedes in the foot, and
who turns,with adolescent fervor, to making love to Helen after escap-
ing from the explosive wrathof her aggrieved husband. In this paper I
plan to analyze these examples of -royeXoiov and determinethe contri-
butionthey make to the overall theme of the Iliad.
The central episode of Book 14 (153-351) is an anthropomorphic
escapade in seduction in which Hera craftily, but only temporarily,
removes Zeus from the control of the war. We find to yEkoitovin
abundance in this passage for there is a significant amount of divine
aoaxo; and ai'gprTga• in the way in which Hera manipulatesAphro-
dite and Sleep and enticingly offers her body to an increasingly
lecherous Zeus. Moreover, both the and the aaXoo; of the
a&•pprTgia
2 For the differencebetween 6 t6
0v6yo; and yEoitov see the comments of I. Bywater,
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Oxford 1909) and D. W. Lucas, Aristotle: Poetics (Oxford
1968) at 1448b37. I. M. Hohendahl-Zoetelief (above, n. 1) 37-74 provides a very
detailed survey of "verbalabuse"in Homer. See also G. Nagy (above, n. 1) for an impor-
tant connection between the category of blame poetry and comic abuse. He makes expli-
cit applicationof Aristoteliancomic doctrineto Homer at 253-255 and at 256 comments:
"Again we may restate:blame poetry has a potential for the comic element, and comedy
formalizes this element of blame poetry. But blame poetry itself is more inclusive and
thus cannot be equated with comedy. Blame poetry can be serious as well as comic; it
can condemn as well as ridicule."

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 T6yeXoiovin theIliad 49

gods in this scene result in no pain or destructionon the divine level

althoughthe consequences for humanbeings are quite different.
In this scene Hera moves effectively to isolate Zeus, at least tem-
porarily, from the war by arousing his strong sexual desires. She
accomplishes this, first, by adorning herself with the most alluring
clothing and jewelry she possesses; and, next, by obtaining, on false
pretenses, the KEOTbV rnotuKov of Aphrodite so that she can
control the cptMh6TrIiailtiVTa by which the goddess of love exer-
cises mastery over both i'itEpov
mortals and immortals. She then further
insures the success of her maneuverby bribing Sleep to intervene after
the seduction and disable Zeus for an extended period of time.
All of this leads to the climactic encounter between Hera and Zeus
at 292-351. As Hera appears on Mt. Ida, seductively attired and in
possession of the potent igla of Aphrodite, Zeus catches sight of her
and experiences emotions that he had not felt since that time when
np•ot6v iep 4ltayea UivcptX6trlrt,ei; I Evi•v cpotvv-E Xi-
Oovte Tocifa; (295-296). Craftily sensing Zeus's heightened ?piXo•,;
passion,
Hera coyly spins a false story for him about her need to go on a long
trip to help Okeanos and Tethys overcome some marital difficulties.
The story has its intended effect as Zeus's sexual attractionfor Hera
intensifies. He announces that his desire for no woman or goddess has
ever been aroused as fully as at this moment, and he ardentlysuggests
v&i 8' ~y' v cptX6tirt TpanreiogLev (314). As evidence of
evri0vTFve
the depth of his feelings he catalogues a ratherlengthy list of prior sex-
ual conquests (317-328), all of which pale in comparison with the
pleasure he anticipates from the present encounter with his unexpect-
edly attractivewife.3
Hera now skillfully completes her plan as she resorts to her final
deception. She pretends that Zeus's proposition has shocked and
shamed her and that she could not risk the threat to her reputationif
one of the gods saw them in a compromisingsituation. She archly sug-
gests that they return to her bedroom if his desire is so great, and he
makes a counterofferthat he will hide the two of them in an impenetr-
able cloud that will protect them even from the powerful rays of
Helios. Hera then submitsand triumphs.

3 Kirk (above, n. 1) 328-329 compares Zeus's response to Hera with Paris's eager
invitationto Helen to go to bed with him in Book 3.441. He comments that Zeus "regales
her with divine insouciance,with a list of mistresses who have not excited him so much."

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50 LeonGolden

Here Homer provides us with a miniature comic drama as he

representst6 yeXoiov in the context of a carefully structuredinteraction
among four highly anthropomorphicdivinities: Hera, Aphrodite,Sleep,
and Zeus. He depicts a scene that has a recognizable beginning, mid-
dle, and end governed by psychological necessity and probabilityand
one which reveals nuances of and alaxo; that are realistic
on the human plane and joyously &•ptrl••a
whimsical on the divine level. The
compact dramabegins with Hera's frustrationover Zeus's intervention
in the war and her discovery of the means to counter his efforts. Her
decision to enhance her sexual attractionsand thus exploit the well-
known lechery of her husbandinvolves an element of a'axoo on both
their parts. We watch her carefully select the clothes and jewelry she
will wear, skillfully formulatethe lies she will tell Aphroditeand Zeus,
craftily proffer the one bribe that will break down Sleep's fearful resis-
tance, and then brilliantlyachieve the sexual arousal in Zeus that is the
key to her plan. In all of these situations Hera has made a shrewdly
correct assessment of the character and goals of the divinities she
wishes to manipulate. Homer does not depict the other charactersin
this comic drama as fully as Hera, but his gullible Aphrodite, his
frightened,yet vulnerable Sleep and his arrogantlylibidinous Zeus are
also finely sketched anthropomorphicportraits that complement the
portrayalof a shrewdly designing goddess who knows exactly what she
wants and how to get it and who will stop at nothing including the use
of lies, bribes, and her own body to achieve her goal. This is a very
clear illustrationof what Aristotle meant when he described Homer as
the poet who developed comedy to maturity by offering dramatic
representations of t6 yeXhoov in place of invective (Poetics
1448b34-38).4
In Book 3 we have the introductionof the second form of "dramatic
representationof the ridiculous," the comic and tragicomic actions
involving Paris.5Our first descriptionof Paris is extremely informative
4 Hawley (above, n. 1) does not do justice to this scene when he states that its comic
effect arises simply and merely from the fact that the seduced Zeus "is the victim of a
delusion." (82) For a perceptiveand comprehensivestudy of the way in which this scene
articulateswith the largernarrativescheme of the Iliad see Erbse (above, n. 1) 93-112.
5 Hess (above, n. 1) recognized very early the ambivalent characterof Paris in the
Iliad (38): Unter den Troernist hier Held Parisnicht zu vergessen, einer der meisterhaften
Charakteredes Dichters, der verkijrperteLeichtsinn. Priichtig stolzirt er in seinem
Pardelfellmit zwei Speeren in langen Schritteneinher (F. 17 ff.), reisst abernachheraus,
woffir ihm Hektor mehrereden Unmuth recht drastischverrathende,fast drollige Ehren-

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 in theIliad
c6 yEXo'ov 51

(15-20):

oi 6' •-Z 8i iAav V iR'&xxiX•itotv i6vze,

oax68v
Tpooxv giv rtpoaldXtEv 'AX~av6po; OEOEtio ;,
q O)ROltOtV EXOV iKaCi t6•a
rtap6av CaCtLxrUaa
Kai alctp 0o)pe
06 6 o0)KEKopUORvaaXaXKiP
~(ipo0"
'Apyeio)v rpoKa•li•Eo
Irca0,ov rtIv'ra; &piotomS
&vzitPov laxFxoaaoat alv aiva 6rqtOitit.
Here we see Paris in the front of the Trojanarmy, engaging our atten-
tion by the splendid leopard skin he is wearing which Homer, not
accidentally, mentions first of all his accoutrement. Then we see him
weighed down with an assortment of weapons: a bent bow, a sword,
and two spears crested with bronze. Jauntily leading his troops,
extremely well dressed, and armed to the teeth, Paris makes a splendid
picture as he challenges the Greeks to fight face to face with him.6 But
moments later when Menelaos eagerly races from the Greek ranks to
answer the challenge, a radicaltransformationtakes place in Paris. We

titel ertheilt und ihm seine Weichlichkeit vorwirft. Gleich nach dem Kampf mit
Menelaos hat er nur fiir seine Liebe zur Helena Gedanken und vergisst um ihretwillen
Trojaund den Krieg. Gegen sein Gegner in Trojais er heftig und fibermiithig(I. 360 ff.)
und wird daherauch von Allen, selbst dem humanenIdaios und Hektorgehasst oder ver-
achtet (F. 319, 453 f., Z. 282, H. 390). Seine Ausdrucksweiseist zum Theil eben so auf-
fallend sprunghaft,als sein Wesen (N. 775 ff.). Dennoch ist gerade er es, der bedeutende
Erfolge erzielt, der den Diomed, Machaon, und Eurypylos verwundet (A. 369 ff., 505,
581), und selbst Hektor kann ihm, wenn er in vers6hnlicherStimmung ist, die Achtung
nicht versagen (Z. 521 ff.). Kirk (above, n. 1) 274 observes that Paris "will behave badly
again, but then he can be truly heroic on occasions, also."
6 Kirk (above, n. 1) 267 comments that "Paris'costume and equipmentare a surprise."
He notes that archers"would not be prancingahead of the rest, for archersoperatedfrom
cover nor did they normallywear leopard-skinsas here ... nor, above all, did they clutter
themselves with pairs of spears as at 18." Kirk speculates that"eitherthe poet is making
him out to be quite eccentric, which is unlikely; or the poet is being a little careless ..."
Hess (above, n. 1) 38 also comments on Paris's unusual uniform and equipment:
"Priichtigstolzirt er in seinem Pardelfell mit zwei Speeren in langen Schritteneinher."I
will argue that it is actually Homer's intention here to attributeto Paris certain comic
eccentricitiesjust as it is his intentionat other times to give him heroic qualities so that in
the end an overall tragicomic effect is achieved. Hess correctly notes in this same pas-
sage that "Dennoch ist gerade er es, der bedeutende Erfolg erzielt, der den Diomed,
Machaonund Eurypylusverwundet... und selbst Hektorkann ihm, wenn er in versohn-
licher Stimmungist, die Achtungnicht versagen."

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52 LeonGolden

are told that when he saw Menelaos charging at him,

"cat•er•ynr
q(ikovi}jop" (31), and he rapidlyretiredinto the ranksof his own army
to avoid death. The swift transition from swashbuckling bravado to
hasty flight reflects behavior that is inappropriatewithin the terms of
the heroic code which guides the actions of the best of the Greek
heroes. Since the immediate consequences of his flight are happy
rather than painful ones for Paris, there is a humorous tone to this
scene. For when a pretense at heroics turns into a frightened(but suc-
cessful) run for one's life, we have an example of spiritual ugliness
without pain, ro6yEXo'ov, which precisely meets the Aristotelian cri-
terionfor comedy.
While the reader and other neutral observers can see Aristotelian
comedy at work here, Hektor does not. As an involved participantin
the war, he is annoyed and exasperated with Paris's conduct and so
addresseshim after his escape with vituperation(39): "Aoartapt,Eo60;
oipt(ztE, yuvai0tavE;, . Here we see that actions that are
taken lightly by Paris7rtREportEut(d
have extremely painful consequences to others.
In the concluding scene of Book 3, where Paris has again escaped with
his life from hand-to-handcombat with Menelaos, Helen continues the
bitter humorof invective by denouncing Paris as a coward (428-436).
His response to her admonitionsis (441): •yE 6i1 ptX6trItt tpa-
&,XX'dimensions of the war
tEioplEV E1v1O•iVtE.In the context of the lethal
he has caused, this answer is a flippantlyinappropriateone. Paris trivi-
alizes the war by subordinatingit to his personalrelationshipto Helen.
On one level he creates a comic action here because he is able to
remove himself from the real world anguish of the orthodox heroes to
enjoy to the fullest a romantic dream. He seduces Helen while tem-
porarilyignoring the reality of the bloody war that is going on outside
of his bedroom. His behavior is deemed inappropriateby Hektor and
other Trojanleaders, but he is imperviousto their anger and suffers no
painful consequences for it. When we focus on his escape from the
fields of slaughterto the arms of Helen and on his own egoistical for-
mulationof the "makelove not war"axiom, we find a comic dimension
to the scene. But when we note the impactof his conduct on others and
on the insults hurledat him by Hektorand Helen, we observe that there
is anotherlevel on which Paris's actions evoke deep pain. Homer tells
us at 3.454 that after Paris fled from Menelaos, his own Trojan com-
rades would not have hidden him from the vengeance seeking Greeks
Ioov ydp optyv &aotv&lri XOEct o lcpi When the same inap-
ClXEaivr.

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 in theIliad
r6 yeXo^tov 53

propriateconduct generates simultaneously both painless and painful

responses, we have the necessary conditions for tragicomedy, and the
Paris theme in the Iliad, I argue, is an importanttragicomic narrative
which is intimately connected with one of the central heroic themes of
the poem.7
In 6 (312-341) we have the scene in which Hektor returns to his
palace to visit his wife but stops first to urge Paris to returnto battle.
He finds him 'v Oadlip irEptcKacXxa TEZE' Enrovra(321) and chides
him for not taking part in the war. Paris accepts the rebuke and
remarks that Helen has also been trying to get him to return to the
struggle against the Greeks. Claderperceptivelynotes8that:

the tone of [Achilles'] anger and refusal to fight is quite serious,

while the tone of this scene is close to comic-tragicomic,
perhaps, if one considers the enormity of the battle outside con-
trasted with the folly within the house. Alexandros himself

7 The comic aspects of this Paris/Helenscene have been noted by others (see Clarke,
above, n. 1, 247). Viewing Paris simply as comic characterdoes not, I believe, do justice
to the complex and varied evidence we are given about him. Some do not note comic or
tragicomic nuances in the scene. See P. Vivante, The Homeric Imagination
(Bloomington-London1970) 148-150 for a romanticreadingof the episode and John A.
Scott, The Unity of Homer (repr. New York 1965 [originally Berkeley 1921]) 227-230
for an evaluationof Paris as a legitimate hero. C. M. Bowra, Traditionand Design in the
Iliad (Oxford 1963) 24 and W. Bergold, Der Zweikampfdes Paris und Menelaos (Bonn
1977) 130 suggest that Paris as well as Helen are under the literal control of Aphrodite.
Johannes Th. Kakridis,Homeric Researches (Lund 1949) 45-46 accuratelypictures the
real natureof Paris when he comments as follows on the encounterbetween Hektor and
Paris in Book VI in Helen's chamber: "Paris is tarrying inside Helen's neptucaXhXa
chamber, surroundedby women and toying with his weapons-not his spear, but his
shield, his breastplateand his bow-while the town outside is in dangerof being lost. He
is not in the least concernedaboutthe calamity threateningthe town and broughtabout by
himself. See also Hess's descriptionof Paris quoted in note 6 and Clader (above, n. 1)
15-16. Paris fits well into the lucid description of the tragicomic given by B. Seiden-
sticker, Palintonos Harmonia: Studien zu komischen Elementen in der griechischen
Tragidie (GOttingen 1982 [Hypomnemata 72]) 27-37. Seidensticker intelligently
modifies Karl Guthke's insightful definition of tragicomedy as "die synthetische Ver-
einigung dieser Elemente,die beide miteinanderidentisch werden lisst, so dass das Kom-
ische das Tragischeund das Tragischedas Komische ist." Seidenstickercorrectlyallows
for varying degrees of tragedy and comedy to coexist and for them to stand in juxta-
position to each other as well as to exist simultaneously. With Paris the tragicomedy
arises fromjuxtaposed scenes of comedy and tragedy.
8 (above, n. 1) 15-16.

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54 Leon Golden

extends the parody by declaring that he was not moved by anger,

but ratherwanted to give himself over to grief (Z 336). The pic-
ture that Paris helps paint of himself is that of a spoiled child, inca-
pable of understandingwhere duty lies or what honest emotion
may be.

In Book 11 two levels of comedy appearin the scene in which Paris

shoots an arrowat Diomedes and wounds that great warriorin the foot.
We are told that after strikingDiomedes ParisgaXa t181yE1cacxa; a &
X6Xot &uagni6rlj8E (378-379). His great amusement at the fact he has
inflicted a superficial wound on Diomedes parallels his adolescent
behavior in subordinatingmilitary responsibilities to his attractionto
Helen. Acting more like a child than a seasoned soldier he cries out
with delight and wonder, "P3~IXrlat, o'68' aktov P3Xo;E"cpuyEv" (380).
Diomedes recognizes the immaturityof this remark as he scornfully
abuses Paris as a to'6ta, Xco3rl7'ip,c pat&ayxa, rtapOEvonirta (385)
and then gives him a lesson in the authenticheroic attitudetoward war
when he states that the person who is struckby him is one who aila'xt
yaiav ApezOovincxOat, oicovoi&8nep ";i yuvaiice; (394-395).
For Diomedes and the other great heroes, nrE•
war is never an amusement
but, rather,a deadly serious affair in which killing and being killed is
the central theme. Diomedes disdains Paris's unheroic laughterover a
meaningless accomplishmentand, by hurling sarcastic epithets at him,
provides us with another example of the comedy of insult. For Paris
the encounter with Diomedes is, indeed, something amusing, and he
has no interest in pressing it to the heroic level of killing and being
killed. His laughtermakes the woundingof Diomedes seem to be more
a childish prankthat inconveniences his opponentratherthan a serious
military feat and offers us an example of comic action in which a
potentially heroic struggle between two enemies is reduced, as
Diomedes so clearly recognizes, to a trivial event. This is, however,
another example of tragicomedy in that the trivial victory which so
amuses Paris is a source of outrage and betrayalto those who take the
heroic code seriously.9
In the two examples of the dramaticrepresentationof the ridiculous

9 Hewitt (1) (above, n. 1) 438 suggests that Paris's laughteris motivatedby the "dis-
comfitureof an opponent." I think that is true as far as it goes but that Paris's laughteris
a more complex phenomenon.

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 in theIliad
x6 yEXoi'ov 55

which we have discussed we see that potentiallyanoov6a'ot characters,

gods or heroes, play out cpalXot roles in circumstanceswhich are pain-
less for themselves although they may have deleterious consequences
for others. Hera's strategemin exploiting Zeus's lechery and her artful
manipulationof Aphrodite and Sleep with lies and bribes derive their
obvious charm from their all too human characteristics. Seduction,
lies, and bribery are, even more for gods than humans, ignoble rather
than noble activities, and since they lead to a painless outcome for
Hera, they are appropriatethemes for the comic treatmentwhich they
actually receive in this passage.
In regard to Paris we observe him, on the one hand, prancing in
front of his own army with a majestic uniform and provoking the
enemy but, then, runningfor his life when Menelaos bears down upon
him; next we see him trivializing heroic, face-to-face combat by his
jocular attitude toward the superficial wound he has inflicted on
Diomedes. On the other hand, we have him fighting with bravery and
effectiveness as Hektor, himself, acknowledges when he occasionally
accepts the role of a hero in war. Yet, we must note, his flight from
battle takes him back to Helen where lust overwhelms the demands of
the military heroic code. Runningfrom battle to the arms of one's mis-
tress is clearly, in the context of the values of the Iliad, the activity of a
and not a orot&6ao; human being, and much contempt is
(pa•)Xo
directed against Paris for his diminished commitment to the war by
both Helen and by his fellow Trojans. Nevertheless, Paris's behavior
leads to no painful consequences for himself althoughit troublesothers
considerably. Thus there is a component of his actions which, in Aris-
totelian terms, is comic and anothercomponent which is painful. The
same point can also be made in regardto the seduction scene of Book
14. There are no serious consequences for Hera and Zeus, but the same
cannot be said for the human beings whose fates are sealed because of
this mountaintop tryst.10
We see then that Homer's use of the dramaticrepresentationof r6
yE•oitov is in no sense incidental to the central themes of the Iliad;
rather it is an effective technique for underscoringthose themes. The
seduction scene in Book 14 is an eloquent evocation of the vast
10 For a discussion of the tragicomic dimensions of this scene see B. Seidensticker
(above, n. 7) 58 and my article "Ato; r~rlad and the Unity of Iliad 14," Mnemosyne42
(1989) 1-11.

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56 LeonGolden

separationwhich exists between the lives of the gods and the lives of
humans in this work. We note this schism between the divine and
human worlds especially clearly in two other importantscenes in the
Iliad. At 20.19-32 Zeus rejoices in his heart at the spectacle of men
killing and being killed, urges the other gods to support, in any way
they wish, each of the warringparties, and then personally elevates the
intensity of the lethal struggle going on before him. At 21.461-467
Apollo advises Poseidon that it makes no sense for them to fight on
behalf of worthlessmortalswho resemble the leaves in the fragility and
trivialityof their lives. WalterBurkerthas clearly explained the nature
and importanceof this schism as follows:11

Fiir die Welt der Ilias ist der Gegensatz des heiteren G6tterlebens
und des t6dlich ernsten menschlichen Schicksals konstitutiv;man
konnte dieses Nebeneinander geradezu die "innere, notwendige
Form der Ilias" nennen. Der "erhabeneUnernst"(Reinhardt)der
G6tter ist die Gegenwelt zum menschlichen Leid, die ironische
Spiegelung menschlicher Tragik ... Spitere Theologie sah im
Lachen der G6ttereine MinderungihrerWiirde;in Wahrheitist es
eher Ausdruck einer ungeheuren, unheimlichen Uberlegenheit,
einer wahrhaftg6ttlichen Freiheit und Sicherheit, aller nachrech-
nenden Menschenvernunftweit entrtickt.

The scenes involving Paris are, in their turn, a potent critique of the
heroic code of the orthodox warriors of the Iliad. The attractionof
Paris to the pleasures of life is a pointed contrast to the "kill or be
killed" goal of Hektor, Diomedes, and Achilles. This theme, affirming
life over death, plays a significantrole elsewhere in the poem: in Hek-
tor and Andromache's protective love for Astyanax in Book 6, in a
number of the scenes of joy and tranquilitydepicted on the shield of
Achilles,12and most especially in the poignant triumphof compassion
over wrathwhich takes place in Achilles's psyche in Book 24.

11W. Burkert,"Das Lied von Ares und Aphrodite,"Rheinisches Museumfiir Philolo-

gie 103 (1960) 140.
12For an especially perceptive
judgment about the message of Achilles's shield see
O. Taplin, "The Shield of Achilles," Greece & Rome 27 (1980) 15. He notes that the
shield functions, on a larger scale than the similes in the poem, to "make us see war as
wasteful and destructive, the blight of peace and pleasure"and that it "makes us think
about war and see it in relation to peace" (italics Taplin's).

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 x6ytXoiovin theIliad 57

Thus, through the medium of tb yeXolov, Paris affirms other

significantevidence in the Iliad which indicates that there are meaning-
ful alternativesto the bloody grace bestowed on heroes by war; just as
the comic dimension of Hera's seduction of Zeus recognizes, along
with other gloomier lines of evidence, the unbridgeablealienation of
the gods from humanbeings in this poem.

FLORIDASTATEUNIVERSITY

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