40 Ancient Ideals
This is one of the most diffi cult aspects of the heroic ideal for the
modern middle- class man or woman to accept. Virtually everyone
believes that it is wrong to take revenge. When pressed, they may
claim that it is against the laws of Chris tian ity to do so. The Savior
taught forgiveness, we hear. When struck, we must turn the other
cheek. But the fact is that war is always based in retribution: one
nation outrages another and the insulted nation must retaliate. In
war, on the ground, payback is necessary. If you let a defeat go un-
avenged, the enemy will believe that you are beaten and demoral-
ized, and then be fl ooded with fi ghting confi dence. But one might
ask: Is the current antipathy to revenge really based in Christian
values? Or is it based on timidity?
Hector has killed Patroclus, now Hector must die. And he must
die in a thoroughly humiliating way. The hero needs an act of dra-
matic retribution to make up for the death of Patroclus but also to
restore his wounded warrior’s pride. For without that pride, both
he and the fi ghting men who depend on him are in danger. Achilles
makes of the death of Hector a spectacle, a piece of theater that un-
folds with a vast audience watching, the Greeks in joy, the Trojans
horrifi ed.
Armed and returned to battle, Achilles begins his onslaught, and
soon the Trojans are driven back to the walls of their city. Achilles
slaughters so many Trojans, dumping their bodies in the River
Scamander, that the river god rises up in outrage and tries to kill the
hero. But Achilles escapes the furious water god and the slaughter
continues. It looks as though Achilles and the Greeks might over-
whelm their enemies and end the war with a grand victory. But at a
critical moment, Apollo diverts Achilles and the Trojans stream
into their gate to safety— all but one. Hector is left standing on the
fi eld. He knows that he could follow his fellow warriors back into
the city, but he feels it would be cowardly. The men he has urged