Compassion and Charity

The Theme in the Work

The compassion of the Iliad begins refused and ends accepted, and the poem shows both things in suppliants who kneel. In Book I, Chryses brings an enormous ransom and the insignia of Apollo, and all the Greeks approve that the priest be respected and the ransom accepted. Agamemnon drives him off with threats, and the old man asks Apollo to punish the whole army, the same movement that Achilles will make later with his mother.

The ties of hospitality and of family open exceptions. In Book III, Priam calls Helen to his side and tells her that she is not to blame, but the gods. In Book VI, Diomedes and Glaucus discover that their grandfathers were guest-friends, stop the duel and exchange armor, in the same book in which Menelaus, persuaded by the ransom of Adrastus, was about to spare him, until Agamemnon rebukes him and orders that no Trojan escape, not even the child in the mother's womb. In Book IX, Phoenix tells Achilles that the Supplications are daughters of Zeus and go after Ate to heal her, and that whoever refuses them harshly draws Ate upon himself.

Whoever pleads beneath the sword is rarely heard. In Book X, Dolon offers the ransom that his father would pay, and Diomedes kills him when he was about to touch his chin, thinking that, if set free, he would return as a spy. In Book XI, Agamemnon refuses the ransom of the sons of Antimachus and kills them, paying with them the offense their father had committed. In the same book, Patroclus, on his way to Achilles, stops beside the wounded Eurypylus, cuts out the arrow, washes the wound and applies a bitter root, leaving the message undelivered. In Book XVI, he accuses Achilles of having been begotten by the sea and the rocks, because he alone is impossible to approach. In Book XVII, Zeus takes pity on the horses that weep for Patroclus and says that nothing is more worthy of pity than man, of all that breathes and crawls upon the earth.

The refusal of Achilles has a date. In Book XX, Tros embraces Achilles' knees, and the narrator calls him a fool, because Achilles did not have a tender heart. In Book XXI, he explains to Lycaon that before the death of Patroclus it was dearer to him to spare the Trojans, that he took many alive and sold them, and that now no one escapes. In Book XXII, Hector pleads by the knees and by their parents that the body be returned to the Trojans, and Achilles answers that he would like to cut it up and eat its raw flesh.

In Book XXIII, the same Achilles, moved with pity for Eumelus, wants to give him the second prize of the games, and, at Antilochus's protest, pays Eumelus from what he has in his tent. In Book XXIV, Apollo says that he has lost his pity, Hecuba that he will have neither pity nor respect, and Zeus that he is neither senseless nor impious and will spare the suppliant with care. Priam comes alone, embraces his knees and kisses his hands, Achilles feels the desire to weep for his father, and the two weep, each for his own dead. Achilles lifts the old man by the hand, moved with pity for his white head and beard, has him sit, and tells him that the gods spun for mortals a life of suffering.

Compassion, in the poem, depends on a tie. Chryses is not heard by Agamemnon and is heard by the army; Diomedes spares Glaucus because their grandfathers were guest-friends, and kills Dolon, who has no tie to him at all; Patroclus cares for Eurypylus out of pity, and Achilles spared the Trojans before losing his friend. Book XXIV points to the tie: what Priam's speech awakens in Achilles is the desire to weep for his father. The poem does not make him another man. In the same tent, he warns the old man that he could kill him, orders the body washed out of his sight so as not to be enraged, and sleeps with Briseis beside him. The text sustains two readings of what happened: the order of Zeus, which he had already accepted, or the stirring of the heart before the old man. The meal and the night shared are the minimal charity that the poem leaves on stage: the hospitality of one who gives food to the father of the men he killed.

Where It Appears

• Book I: The Greeks approve that the priest Chryses be respected and his daughter's ransom accepted, but Agamemnon drives him off with threats, and the old man asks Apollo to punish the Greeks.
• Book III: Priam calls Helen to his side and tells her that she is not to blame, but the gods, who launched against him the war of many tears.
• Book VI: Menelaus, persuaded by the ransom that Adrastus offers, was about to spare him, but Agamemnon rebukes him and orders that no Trojan escape, not even the child in the mother's womb.
• Book VI: Diomedes and Glaucus discover that their grandfathers were guest-friends, stop the duel, exchange armor, and promise to avoid each other's spear in the crowd.
• Book IX: Phoenix tells Achilles that the Supplications are daughters of Zeus and go after Ate to heal her, and that whoever refuses them draws Ate upon himself.
• Book X: Dolon offers the ransom his father would pay, but Diomedes kills him before he can touch his chin, thinking that if set free he would return as a spy or to fight.
• Book XI: Agamemnon refuses the ransom of the sons of Antimachus and kills them, paying with them the offense their father committed against Menelaus.
• Book XI: Patroclus, on his way to Achilles, stops beside the wounded Eurypylus, takes him to the tent, cuts out the arrow, and applies a bitter root to the wound, leaving the message undelivered.
• Book XVI: Patroclus accuses Achilles of having been begotten by the sea and the rocks, because the wounded best of the Achaeans receive care and only he is impossible to approach.
• Book XVII: Zeus takes pity on Achilles' horses, which weep for Patroclus, and says that, of all that breathes and crawls upon the earth, nothing is more worthy of pity than man.
• Book XX: Tros embraces Achilles' knees and begs to be spared, reminding him that they are of the same age, but the narrator calls him a fool, because Achilles had no tender heart.
• Book XXI: Achilles refuses Lycaon's plea and explains that before Patroclus's death it was dearer to him to spare the Trojans, and that he took many alive and sold them.
• Book XXII: Hector, fallen, pleads with Achilles by the knees and by their parents that the body be returned to the Trojans, and Achilles answers that he would like to cut it up and eat its raw flesh.
• Book XXIII: Achilles, moved with pity for Eumelus, wants to give him the second prize, and at Antilochus's protest pays Eumelus with a breastplate taken from Asteropaeus.
• Book XXIV: Zeus says that Achilles is neither senseless nor impious and will spare the suppliant with care, while Apollo says that he has lost his pity and Hecuba that he will have neither pity nor respect.
• Book XXIV: Achilles lifts Priam by the hand, moved with pity for his white head and beard, has him sit, and says that the gods spun for wretched mortals a life of suffering.

Passages

Priam tells Helen that the blame is not hers.

Phoenix tells Achilles that the Supplications go after Ate.

Dolon reaches for Diomedes's chin, and the sword arrives first.

Patroclus stops beside the wounded Eurypylus before carrying the message.

Zeus pities Achilles' horses and, with them, all men.

Achilles tells Lycaon what changed after the death of Patroclus.

Apollo accuses Achilles before the gods of having lost his pity.

Priam measures what he did in kissing the hand of his sons' slayer.

Achilles tells Priam to bear his grief, since weeping does not bring back his son.