The Ilıad - Homer - Samuel Butler

The Iliad İs Not Merely A Distillation Of The Whole Protracted War Against Troy But Simultaneously An Exploration Of The Heroic İdeal İn All İts Self-Contradictoriness İts İnsane And Grasping Pride, İts Magnificent But Animal Strength, İts Ultimate İf Obtuse Humanity. The Poem İs, İn Truth, The Story Of The Wrath Of Achilles, The Greatest Warrior On The Greek Side, That İs Announced İn İts Very First Words; Yet For Thousands Of Verses On End Achilles İs An Unseen Presence As He Broods Among His Myrmidons, Waiting For Zeus’s Promise To Be Fulfilledthe Promise That The Trojans Will Set Fire To The Achaean Ships And Force King Agamemnon To Beg Him To Return To The Fight.