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Book Nine
that Akhilleus' disillusion is with war itself, a disillusion shared by the poet
and forming 'possibly the real plot of the second half of the Iliad'. In order
to wrestle with the traditional ethos, however, Akhilleus must wrestle with
the traditional language. His problem (i.e. that of the poet) is like that of
Penelope seeking to redefine TO euKAees (see 34m.), a problem that is exacerbated
by, but not peculiar to, a formular diction. For criticism of Parry's
argument see D. B. Claus, TAP A 105 (1975) 13-28, and P. Friedrich and
J. M. Redfield, Language 54 (1978) 263-88: the Homeric language is not so
fixed and unambiguous that it cannot evaluate what it describes, see 387^
The disillusionment of Akhilleus is most clearly expressed in the passage
401-16, where Akhilleus is made to deny the heroic doctrine that glory
outweighs life. This is perhaps a traditional point, for it recurs at Od.
11.488-91: the greatest hero can afford to question his role. No one takes
up the point just as no one takes up the point of Akhilleus' immediate
departure, probably because such manifest hyperboles could not be taken
seriously; no one but Akhilleus knew that a long, inglorious life could be
assured. At 12.322-8 Sarpedon too would not have fought if he had known
he would live on, but since ten thousand dooms of death surrounded
a mortal man the only thing he could be assured of was glory through
valour.
For the relation of the speech to the general characterization of Akhilleus
see Griffin, HLD 73-6, Edwards, HP I 222-4; f° r tne language see Shipp,
Studies 267—5. Shipp's comment is significant, 'The speech of Achilles is for
the most part characterized by features that reflect contemporary Ionic,
with lumps that make an older impression', that is to say, the speech is an
original composition and does not depend as heavily as a battle scene on
traditional themes and the traditional diction that goes with them.
308-14 Note the immediate characterization: Akhilleus is suspicious of
Odysseus, although on this occasion he has faithfully conveyed the sense of
the Achaean council. But there is also permanent characterization: Akhilleus
is open, Odysseus indirect, cf. 644-55 where Akhilleus' attitude to Aias,
a personality similar to his own, is noticeably warmer. Akhilleus' elaborate
statement of his love of plain speaking seems to give it (pace Leaf and Von
der Muhll) a specific implication beside its general reference. But it would
be pointless to make Odysseus, the obvious candidate for a charge of
duplicity, the sole target of Akhilleus' remarks: rather it is Agamemnon -
Akhilleus had not heard Agamemnon's comparison of him to Hades (158),
but we have, and 312 may be taken as a riposte to it. Agamemnon's
generosity, Akhilleus implies already, is tainted by self-interest.
308 Sioyeves AaepTidSr) ... is the regular whole-verse formula for
Odysseus in the vocative case (7X //., 15X Od.). It has no special connotations
for the speaker, beyond a certain formality (cf. 96n.), and is used
102