Homeric Metaphor, a sample analysis

Sample Outline

Book 17 l. 645

Her gray eyes afire, the goddess Pallas thrilled

that the man had prayed to her before all other gods.

She put fresh strength in his back, spring in his knees

and filled his heart with the horsefly’s raw daring-

brush it away from a man’s flesh and back it comes,

biting, attacking, crazed for sweet human blood.

With such raw daring she filled his dark heart

and he bestrode Patroclus, flung a gleaming spear-

and there was a Trojan, Eetion’s son called Podes,

well-bred, wealthy, and Hector prized him most

in all the realm- a first-rate drinking friend...

As he sprang in flight the red-haired captain hit him,

splitting his belt, and bronze went ripping through his flesh...”

I. This is a simple, almost one-sided metaphor

a) Menelaus’ persistent, fearless attacks against a much larger body (the Trojan army)

is compared to a fly’s furious and mindless harassments

b) Menelaus is given these qualities by a god (Athena) and is seen, through this

metaphor, from a god’s perspective. Men are trifles, annoying, ultimately

of little consequence.

c) Even the greatest of warriors is not considered of much worth- only Agamemnon

Ajax and Achilles are greater than Menelaus. None of them have any intrinsic

humaniy, dignity, or honor.

1- gods can just “brush away” human concerns, but these concerns do persist

and are annoying. The gods do not understand human concerns and troubles.

2- This is an excellent example of the relationship of gods and men

d) Menelaus’ value lay only in his sacrifices to Athena- he “prayed to her above

all other gods...”

1- she will help him, but for her own reasons, not his, and certainly not out of

any concern for him. His sacrifice to her may well cause him trouble with other

gods. No human can win in this situation.

e) Flies are also associated with death, rot, corpses, disease, mindlessless, annoyance

and anonymity. Hardly what one associates with heroes.

f) This is in total contrast to what little we learn of his victim: Podes, dear to Hector,

“a first-rate drinking friend”. From the god’s perspective a man may be a pest,

and a useful fool on occasion, but to another man, he is a friend, a comrade, a

joy and a comfort. The god’s cannot relate to this at all.

g) Doesn’t Menelaus’ lust for human blood make him less for human, rather like a

fly? Doesn’t the god’s power make him less than human? And doesn’t this make

the gods themselves seem like carrion, flies, or vultures lusting after human death?