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Book Eleven
fight from a chariot (5.13, 8.1186°., 11.53iff., 15.386 and 16.3776°.), cf.
Snodgrass, Early Greek Armour and Weapons (Edinburgh 1964) 260 n. 26, to
which add the equivocal description of Euphorbos' tactics (16.8096°.). See
also 150-3^
The repeated theme of men killed in pairs imposes some order on a
narrative that might otherwise be as chaotic as the battle itself; it is used
also of Diomedes'exploits at 5.9ft 0 ., 1446°., 148ft 0 . 152ft 0 ., 1596°. (a remarkable
series), and of Diomedes and Odysseus (themselves fighting as a pair) later
in this book (328ft 0 .). Most of the pairs are brothers, a fact that increases the
moments of pathos and motivates the hopeless attempts of the second
brother to avenge the first and stand up to a mighty hero. The repetition of
the themes is part of the poet's technique, but the way in which they are
elaborated is part of his art: the three episodes form a crescendo marked by
increasing length (9^, 21, and 27 verses respectively) and savagery. This
is more artful composition than is observed at some other points, e.g.
16.173-97, 18.478-613, 23.262-897, Od. books 9-10, where the poet begins
at length and speeds up as he proceeds. S. E. Bassett, TAP A 6 (1934)
47-69, is disparaging of Agamemnon's prowess. Agamemnon's victims are
not indeed fighting men of the first rank, but the same may be said of the
slain in any aristeia. The first pair, Bienor and Oileus, are nonentities who
enter the Iliad only here. None the less the details of his end give Oileus at
least a fragment of individuality; he dared to stand his ground. The second
and third pairs are persons of more consequence and potentially more
formidable antagonists, being represented as sons respectively of Priam and
his counsellor Antimakhos, but only Antiphos is mentioned elsewhere, see
101-2 in. The fact is that few men with a life outside the scene of their death
are slain in the Iliad, and very few, so far as we can tell, who have a life
outside the poem. The inference is that scenes such as Agamemnon's aristeia
are ad hoc fictions: the King of Men must be given his moment of glory in a
narrative of Iliadic scale, but the tradition named for him no memorable
opponent. It is not therefore surprising that all eight of Agamemnon's
victims in this Book have Greek names; over two-thirds of the 340-odd
Trojans and allies mentioned in the Iliad are given such names.
These deaths are related in a strikingly detached style which is graphic
but minimizes the horrors of hand-to-hand combat. An aristeia, of course,
must be read from the standpoint of the dpioreus, and so might easily be
tainted with sadism. The objective style avoids that danger, but at the risk
of seeming to lack sympathy. Note therefore the use of anecdote (104-6),
simile (113-19), and direct speech (131-5) which momentarily turn attention
from the dpiaxeus to his victims. bT rightly find pathos in these
episodes.
92 TTpcoTos: the common pattern of battle description narrows the focus
233