What It Is
Zeus's Scales are the golden balance in which the father of the gods weighs the Keres, the portions of death, of the two sides at war. The poem shows it in action twice, and both times the pan that sinks belongs to the side whose fated day has come: at midday in Book VIII, for both armies, and on the fourth lap of the chase in Book XXII, for Achilles and Hector. Between the two, the poem recalls it in quieter voices: in Hector's, who recognizes it, in the voice of Odysseus, who cites it, and in a human comparison with a weaver's scales.
Where It Appears
In Book VIII, Zeus opens the assembly by forbidding the other gods to help either side, and proves his own strength with a challenge: let all of them hang from a golden chain fixed to the sky, and none will drag him down to the plain, while he, if he wished, would pull them all up, together with the earth and the sea.
σειρὴν χρυσείην ἐξ οὐρανόθεν κρεμάσαντες / πάντές τʼ ἐξάπτεσθε θεοὶ πᾶσαί τε θέαιναι· / ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἂν ἐρύσαιτʼ ἐξ οὐρανόθεν πεδίον δὲ / Ζῆνʼ ὕπατον μήστωρʼ, οὐδʼ εἰ μάλα πολλὰ κάμοιτε.(8.19-22), hanging a golden chain from heaven, cling to it, all you gods and goddesses; but you would not drag Zeus, the supreme counselor, from heaven to the plain, however hard you strained.
The armies fight in balance until midday. Then:
καὶ τότε δὴ χρύσεια πατὴρ ἐτίταινε τάλαντα· / ἐν δʼ ἐτίθει δύο κῆρε τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο / Τρώων θʼ ἱπποδάμων καὶ Ἀχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων, / ἕλκε δὲ μέσσα λαβών· ῥέπε δʼ αἴσιμον ἦμαρ Ἀχαιῶν.(8.69-72), and then the Father stretched out the golden balance; in it he set two Keres, the fates of death that strikes down, one for the horse-taming Trojans and one for the Achaeans in bronze tunics; he took it at the middle and lifted it: the fated day of the Achaeans tipped downward.
From Mount Ida he thunders and hurls a bolt into the middle of the Greeks, who fill with dread. Nestor reads the lightning and accepts what he sees:
ἦ οὐ γιγνώσκεις ὅ τοι ἐκ Διὸς οὐχ ἕπετʼ ἀλκή; / νῦν μὲν γὰρ τούτῳ Κρονίδης Ζεὺς κῦδος ὀπάζει / σήμερον· ὕστερον αὖτε καὶ ἡμῖν, αἴ κʼ ἐθέλῃσι, / δώσει· ἀνὴρ δέ κεν οὔ τι Διὸς νόον εἰρύσσαιτο / οὐδὲ μάλʼ ἴφθιμος, ἐπεὶ ἦ πολὺ φέρτερός ἐστι.(8.140-144), Do you not realize that the strength that comes from Zeus is not with you? Now the son of Cronus, Zeus, grants glory to this man, today; later, if he wishes, he will grant it to us too; no man can thwart the mind of Zeus, not even the very mighty, for he is far stronger.
In Book XII, the balance appears on a human scale. The poet compares the equilibrium of the fighting at the wall to the scales of a poor weaver, who levels the pans to earn a miserable wage for her children, until the moment when Zeus grants greater glory to Hector.
ἔχον ὥς τε τάλαντα γυνὴ χερνῆτις ἀληθής, / ἥ τε σταθμὸν ἔχουσα καὶ εἴριον ἀμφὶς ἀνέλκει / ἰσάζουσʼ, ἵνα παισὶν ἀεικέα μισθὸν ἄρηται· / ὣς μὲν τῶν ἐπὶ ἶσα μάχη τέτατο πτόλεμός τε, / πρίν γʼ ὅτε δὴ Ζεὺς κῦδος ὑπέρτερον Ἕκτορι δῶκε / Πριαμίδῃ, ὃς πρῶτος ἐσήλατο τεῖχος Ἀχαιῶν.(12.433-438), but they held like the scales of an honest wage-earning woman who works with wool: she holds the weight and the fleece and, on each side, evens the pans, so as to earn a miserable wage for her children; so equal the battle and the war stretched between them, until Zeus gave greater glory to Hector, son of Priam, the first to leap into the wall of the Achaeans.
In Book XVI, when Zeus decides that Patroclus will once more push the Trojans back to the city, Hector flees in his chariot and drags the Lycians with him in the flight, because he has recognized the sacred scales of Zeus.
ὧδε δέ οἱ φρονέοντι δοάσσατο κέρδιον εἶναι / ὄφρʼ ἠῢς θεράπων Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος / ἐξαῦτις Τρῶάς τε καὶ Ἕκτορα χαλκοκορυστὴν / ὤσαιτο προτὶ ἄστυ, πολέων δʼ ἀπὸ θυμὸν ἕλοιτο. / Ἕκτορι δὲ πρωτίστῳ ἀνάλκιδα θυμὸν ἐνῆκεν· / ἐς δίφρον δʼ ἀναβὰς φύγαδʼ ἔτραπε, κέκλετο δʼ ἄλλους / Τρῶας φευγέμεναι· γνῶ γὰρ Διὸς ἱρὰ τάλαντα.(16.652-658), and, as he pondered, it seemed better to him that the brave squire of Achilles, son of Peleus, should once more drive the Trojans and Hector of the bronze armor back to the city, and take the lives of many. He put a spineless spirit into Hector before all others: he mounted his chariot, turned to flee, and ordered the other Trojans to flee too, for he recognized the sacred scales of Zeus.
In Book XIX, Odysseus uses it to persuade Achilles to let the Achaeans eat before fighting: the satiety of battle comes quickly, he says, and the harvest is small when Zeus tips the scales.
In Book XXII, the image returns, now for a single man. Zeus laments seeing Hector before the walls, he who burned so many thighs of oxen for him, and asks the gods whether to save him or hand him over at once to Achilles. Athena objects:
ἄνδρα θνητὸν ἐόντα πάλαι πεπρωμένον αἴσῃ / ἂψ ἐθέλεις θανάτοιο δυσηχέος ἐξαναλῦσαι; / ἔρδʼ· ἀτὰρ οὔ τοι πάντες ἐπαινέομεν θεοὶ ἄλλοι.(22.179-181), a mortal man, long ago destined by fate, do you wish to release him again from the death of lamentation? Do it; but we other gods do not all approve of you.
Zeus yields, and on the fourth pass by the springs of the Scamander:
καὶ τότε δὴ χρύσεια πατὴρ ἐτίταινε τάλαντα,(22.209), and then the Father stretched out the golden balance.
ἐν δʼ ἐτίθει δύο κῆρε τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο, / τὴν μὲν Ἀχιλλῆος, τὴν δʼ Ἕκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο, / ἕλκε δὲ μέσσα λαβών· ῥέπε δʼ Ἕκτορος αἴσιμον ἦμαρ, / ᾤχετο δʼ εἰς Ἀΐδαο, λίπεν δέ ἑ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων.(22.210-213), in it he set the two Keres of grievous death, one of Achilles and one of Hector, horse-tamer; he lifted it holding it at the middle: the fated day of Hector tipped downward, he went to Hades, and Phoebus Apollo left him.
What It Means
The balance is the image of fate as something that is weighed, and not as merit or as a response to prayer. The pan that sinks is that of the death that is coming, and the poem ties the weighing to what comes right after: in Book VIII, the thunder and the lightning that put the Greeks to flight; in Book XXII, the end of Apollo's protection and the descent of Athena to Achilles. Both times it is the balance that closes the debate of the gods and opens the action.
The text sustains two readings of the gesture. In the first, the balance reveals a fate that already existed, and Zeus reads what is fixed. In the second, it makes visible a decision that Zeus has just made. In Book XXII, the one who holds it out has just asked whether to save Hector, and the gods' answer is a warning, not a prohibition: Zeus does not decide, he weighs, and the decision returns to each one's fate. The poem does not resolve whether this shows a god without power to change destiny or a god who chooses not to change it.
The balance appears when Zeus is divided, and the words of the warning repeat. In Book XVI, Zeus thinks of rescuing Sarpedon, the dearest of mortals to him, from his marked death, and Hera answers: do it, but we other gods do not all approve of you. In Book XXII, Athena says the same about Hector, almost in the same words, and Zeus yields both times. The difference is that, before Hector, he holds out the scales. Instead of pronouncing sentence, he hands the result over to an object, and the falling pan makes Zeus a witness to the fate he did not wish to oppose.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Fate and free will, Death, War.
- Characters: Zeus, Hector, Achilles, Athena, Apollo, Hera, Odysseus.
- Neighboring symbols: Hector's Body, whose fate the second weighing fixes, and Agamemnon's Scepter, the other object the poem associates with Zeus.