Odysseus and Achilles

However, Achilles leaves no doubt that he is letting his felicitate lead him down a path which spells disaster for the Achaeans.

This confrontation does represent a stark railway line in the two men's understanding of the meaning of politesse. To Odysseus, there is no heroism aside from its connection to the nation of which the warrior is an intrinsic part. Odysseus first seems to challenge Achilles:

Up with you then, if even at this advanced hour you want to rescue the exhausted troops from the Trojans' fury. If you ref drug abuse, you yourself entrust regret it later, for when the damage has been done there impart be no mending it. Bestir yourself, before that stage is reached (Homer, Iliad, 167).

here we see Odysseus's understanding of heroism as being in part a loyalty and responsibility to one's nation and one's workfellow citizens and warriors. Odysseus is playing on Achilles's sense of guilt and his fear that he go out regret his decision greatly if disaster strikes the Achaeans.

thusly Odysseus appeals to Achilles's memory of his father Peleus and Peleus's appealings to Achilles to avoid precisely the kind of anti- high-minded carriage Achilles is now exhibiting. Odysseus reminds Achilles that Peleus warned him: "What you must do is to go for a nock on that proud spirit of yours; for a kind shopping centre is a better thing than pride. Quarrels are deadly. Be reconcile

The third plea of Odysseus to Achilles in the strike of heroism is the list of gifts and honors Achilles will receive from Agamemnon and the people if Achilles will relent and return to battle against the Trojans. The list is long and full, including gold, horses and women, including spoils from the to-be-sacked cities of the Trojans and others. Achilles will receive towns and cattle.

---. The Odyssey. New York: Mentor, 1937.

Odysseus's heroism, on the other hand, is based on wisdom, reason, and a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the unmarried citizen and soldier, and the society of which the individual is a part.

You can take it that uncomplete my lord Agamemnon nor the rest of the Danaans are going to win me over, since it appears that a man gets no thanks for struggling with the enemy twenty-four hour period in, day out. His share is the same, whether he sits at home or fights his best. . . . All I have suffered by constantly risking my vitality in battle has left me no better arrive at than the rest (Homer, Iliad, 169).

I have no use for the Achaeans' full opinion. I am content with the approbation of Zeus, which will keep me by my beaked ships as long as tinge remains in my body and I can use my limbs (Homer, Iliad, 177).

Achilles even appears to be verging on paranoia when he accuses the truly heroic Odysseus of "currying favour with my lord Agamemnon by this attempt to upset me with a display of maudlin emotion" (Homer, Iliad, 177). Achilles goes on to suggest that Odysseus may be threatening his friendship with him by "currying favour" with Agamemnon. In fact, however, Odysseus is humbly and selflessly putting the fate of the society of the Greeks forwards of his own individuality and pride by going to Achilles to plead for his return to the fight against the Trojans.

Odysseus does not discount the individual aspects of heroism in his pleadings to Achilles. After all, much of his pleading is aimed at the pride and material desires of Achilles-
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