Great Books #7: The Anti-Homer

Homer becomes the basis for Greek civilization. This means that all educated Greeks memorized the Iliad and Odyssey. At this point in history, people don't read them; they speak and listen in front of an audience. Homer becomes the infrastructure of their mental worldview, and this leads to the greatest civilization in human history.

But eventually, the Romans will conquer the Greeks. The Romans will conquer the entire Mediterranean and create the Roman Empire.

Greek Excellence vs. Roman Piety

The Romans are nothing like the Greeks. The Greeks are very open and curious. They believe in the ideas of arete and eudaimonia.

• Arete means excellence—to be the best at what you can be.
• Eudaimonia means flourishing. You can only achieve human happiness if you achieve your arete.

Think of Odysseus, who was a great speaker. That is his arete, and he uses his speech to fulfill his destiny and save his family. That achieves eudaimonia.

The Romans are very different. The Romans believed in the idea of piety. Piety just means obedience to your fathers, to history, and to tradition. The Romans are an extremely conservative people, but they're very good at fighting wars, and that's why they become the empire.

After the empire is established, the Romans recognize that Greek culture is vastly superior, and many well-educated Romans begin to drift towards Greek culture, which, from the Roman perspective, leads to the corruption of the Roman soul. Augustus Caesar, who is really considered the first emperor of Rome, recognizes that in the long term, even though the Romans have conquered the Greeks physically, spiritually the Greeks will conquer the Romans. The main issue is Homer.

His solution is to destroy Homer. You can't burn books because there aren't that many, and people have memorized Homer. So, you need to corrupt Homer. The solution that he devises is called the Aeneid.

We can consider the Aeneid as the anti-Homer, or the inversion of Homer—taking the ideas of Homer and inverting them. This becomes the Bible of the Roman Empire, meaning that if you're a schoolboy, you have to memorize the Aeneid. This is the main way you learn Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire.

Whereas Homer will give us Greek civilization and the birth of Western civilization, the Aeneid will create the Dark Ages—about a thousand years when Western creativity ends. Then, someone will emerge who will recognize the evil that is the Aeneid, and he will create an antidote to the poison that is the Aeneid. This person, of course, is called Dante.

We will read the Aeneid and understand how it poisons and corrupts Homer. This will then lead us to the Divine Comedy, which is really the liberation of the human soul from the poison that is the Aeneid.

The Structure of the Aeneid

The Aeneid replicates both the Odyssey and the Iliad. The Aeneid is 24 books. The first 12 books are modeled off the Odyssey; the last 12 books are modeled off the Iliad.

The story begins when Aeneas, one of the survivors of the fall of Troy, takes his father and his child to go off to the Italian peninsula because the gods have told him that he is fated—destined—to found the Roman Empire. That's why the gods had to destroy Troy: to create the Roman Empire. But as he sails to the Italian Peninsula, there's a shipwreck, and he lands in Carthage. There he meets the queen, Dido.

The Carthaginians and Dido are extremely hospitable to Aeneas. They have this huge banquet, and Aeneas tells her the story of the fall of Troy. Remember that Homer doesn't actually discuss the fall of Troy, but Aeneas will. By discussing the fall, his main purpose is to show how duplicitous, manipulative, and deceptive the Greeks are. He's also going to tell us why the values of Homer are evil, why love is evil, and why love will lead you into tragedy.

By telling the story, Aeneas will seduce Dido. Dido will fall in love with him, not only because he is brave and handsome, but because he's also a great poet, able to tell the story in a beautiful manner. And so they fall in love.

What we're going to read first is the story of the fall of Troy. It begins when the Greeks pretend to leave the beaches of Troy and leave behind a wooden horse. There's a huge debate among the Trojans as to what to do with this horse, and they basically decide they can't take a risk and should just destroy it—throw it into the sea. Then, a Greek soldier emerges. He's a prisoner, caught by some shepherds, and he tells the story of the Trojan horse and why it's not a threat. In fact, it's a gift from the Greeks to the gods. Because it's a gift to the gods, you cannot destroy it, because then you would anger the gods.

What this is going to show us is that Greek culture—philosophy, theater, rhetoric—is all one of deception. The real Trojan horse is Greek culture. You cannot let Greek culture into Rome because it will corrupt and poison the empire from within. This is propaganda. It's very blatant what Virgil is doing.

Something I need to explain is that while Virgil is considered the poet who composed the Aeneid, it was actually Augustus Caesar who wrote it. Basically, Augustus Caesar was the one who provided Virgil with a framework, and then Virgil composed it into Latin poetry. At the end of his life, Virgil actually wanted to burn it. The reason why is if you're a poet, you believe that your gift comes from the gods, and so you represent the gods. But if you work for the empire, if you use your gift for the emperor, then maybe the gods will punish you. Virgil was very much afraid and wanted to burn the Aeneid, but Augustus Caesar would not let him. And so this became the Bible of the Roman Empire. It is an evil, evil piece of work. And it is the anti-Homer. We're going to study it because it's going to shape Western civilization throughout the Middle Ages until the coming of Dante.

The Treachery of the Greeks

Suddenly, in the thick of it all, a young soldier,
hands shackled behind his back—with much shouting
Trojan shepherds were hauling him toward the king.
He’d come on the man by chance, a total stranger,
he’d given himself up with one goal in mind:
to open Troy to the Greeks and lay her waste.
He trusted to courage, nerved for either end,
to weave his lies or face a certain death.
Young Trojan recruits, keen to have a look,
came scurrying up from all sides, crowding round,
outdoing each other to make a mockery of the captive.
Now hear the treachery of the Greeks, and learn
from a single crime the nature of the beast.
Haggard, helpless, there in our midst he stood,
all eyes riveted on him now, and turning
a weary glance at the lines of Trojan troops,
he groaned and spoke: “Where can I find some refuge?
Where on land, on sea? What’s left for me now,
a man of so much misery? Nothing among the Greeks,
no place at all. And worse, I see my Trojan enemies
crying for my blood!”

His groans convinced us, cutting all our show of violence short.

At this time in history, around 30 BCE, Greek theater is very popular. The Romans love Greek theater, and it is the very paragon of Greek civilization. What this is telling us is that Greek theater is evil; it's meant to deceive us. This Greek soldier is trained in theater, philosophy, and rhetoric. He's using all his craft and skills to ultimately deceive the good but naive Trojans.

He tells the story of how he came to be left behind in Troy. The story is that he angered Odysseus, who plotted against him. So when it came time for the Greeks to leave Troy and sail home, they needed to sacrifice a person, and that person was this guy. But somehow, this guy ran off.

“The day of infamy soon came. The sacred rites
were all performed for the victim, the salted meal strewn,
the bands tied round my head. But I broke free of death,
I tell you, burst my shackles, yes, and hid all night
in the reeds of a marshy lake, waiting for them to sail,
if only they would sail.
Well, no hope now of seeing the land where I was born,
or my sweet children, the father I longed for all these years.
Maybe they’ll wring from them the price for my escape,
avenge my guilt with my loved ones’ blood. Poor things.
I beg you, king, by the powers who know the truth,
by any trust still uncorrupt in the world of men,
pity a man whose torment knows no bounds!
Pity me in my pain. I know in my soul
I don’t deserve to suffer.”
He wept and won his life. Our pity too.
Priam takes command, has him freed from the ropes
and chains that bind him fast and hails him warmly:
“Whoever you are, from now on you’ve lost the Greeks.
Put them out of your mind and you’ll be one of us.
But answer my questions, tell me the whole truth.
Why did they raise up this giant, monstrous horse?
Who conceived it? What’s it for? Its purpose—
a gift to the gods, a great engine of battle?”

This reminds us of the Iliad, where Priam, the king of the Trojans, is known for being a very generous, benevolent, open person. But this will lead to the doom of Troy. Remember, in the Iliad, it is because of Priam's generosity—his ability to forgive Achilles—that leads to the great friendship between them. Virgil is trying to reverse this. He's trying to show us that you think generosity will lead to goodness, but no, generosity will lead to evil. You see how Priam is too trusting, too generous. He believes this Greek soldier and will allow the Trojans to bring the horse into Troy. At night, the Greek soldiers will escape from the horse, open the gates of Troy, and now the Greeks are rushing in to kill everyone.

Aeneas hears this slaughter and tries to save as many people as he can. His first thought is, "Where is my king? How do I save my king?" As the Greeks are ravaging the city, killing as many people as they can, Aeneas is rushing to save his king, Priam.

The Death of Priam

Perhaps you wonder how Priam met his end.
When he saw his city stormed and seized, his gates
wrenched apart, the enemy camped in his palace depths,
the old man donned his armor, long unused. He clamps it
around his shoulders, shaking with age, and all for nothing,
straps his useless sword to his hip, then makes for the thick of battle,
out to meet his death.
At the heart of the house an ample altar stood
naked under the skies, an ancient laurel
bending over the shrine, embracing our household gods
within its shade. Here, flocking the altar, Hecuba
and her daughters huddled, blown headlong down
like doves by a black storm, clutching all for nothing
the figures of their gods. Seeing Priam decked
in the arms he’d worn as a young man, “Are you insane?”
she cries, “Poor husband, what impels you to strap
that sword on now? Where are you rushing? Too late
for such defense, such help. Not even my own Hector,
if he came to the rescue now… Come to me, Priam.
This altar will shield us all, or else you’ll die with us.”
With those words, drawing him toward her there,
she made a place for the old man beside the holy shrine.

Pyrrhus is the son of Achilles. This is a rewriting of the ending of the Iliad, where Priam and Achilles have this great emotional battle where they forgive each other, and Priam's love for Hector and Achilles's love for his father unifies their souls. This is going to be a rewriting of that battle. Achilles is dead, and now his son is seeking to kill Priam.

Suddenly, look, a son of Priam, Polites,
just escaped from slaughter at Pyrrhus’ hands,
comes racing through spears, through enemy fighters,
fleeing down the long arcades and deserted hallways,
badly wounded. Pyrrhus hot on his heels, a weapon
poised for the kill, about to seize him, about to run him through—
and pressing home as Polites reaches his parents,
he collapses, vomiting out his lifeblood before their eyes.

This is a rewriting of the Iliad where Polites becomes Hector. Remember, Achilles kills Hector at the gates of Troy, and Priam and Hecuba are on the walls watching. Then Achilles commits a war crime by tying Hector to his chariot and dragging him all around the walls of Troy. This is a reimagining of that scene.

At that, Priam, trapped in the grip of death,
not holding back, not checking his words, his rage:
“You,” he cries, “you and your vicious crimes!
If any power on high recoils at such an outrage,
let the gods repay you for all your reckless work,
grant you the thanks, the rich reward you’ve earned!
You’ve made me see my son’s death with my own eyes,
defiled a father’s sight with a son’s lifeblood.
You say you’re Achilles’ son? You lie!
Achilles never treated his enemy Priam so.
No, he honored a suppliant’s rights, he blushed
to betray my trust, he restored my Hector’s
bloodless corpse for burial, sent me safely
home to the land I rule.”

He is reminding us of the ending of the Iliad, where in this great war, peace and love come to the universe when Achilles and Priam are able to become friends. He's saying, "You've destroyed the legacy of your father. You've destroyed the friendship between us."

With that and with all his might the old man flings a spear,
but too impotent now to pierce, it merely grazes
Pyrrhus’ brazen shield that blocks its way and clings there,
dangling limp from the boss, all for nothing.
Pyrrhus shouts back: “Well then, down you go,
a messenger to my father, Peleus’ son!
Tell him about my vicious work, how Neoptolemus
degrades his father’s name—don’t you forget.
Now die!”
That said, he drags the old man straight to the altar,
quaking, slithering on through slicks of his son’s blood,
and twisting Priam’s hair in his left hand, his right hand
sweeping forth his sword, a flash of steel, he buries it
hilt-deep in the king’s flank.
Such was the fate of Priam, his death, his lot on earth.
With Troy blazing before his eyes, her ramparts down,
the monarch who once had ruled in all his glory
the many lands of Asia, Asia’s many tribes.
A powerful trunk is lying on the shore,
the head wrenched from the shoulders, a corpse
without a name.

There's a difference between the Greeks and the Romans. The Greeks are very cultured people. They enjoy going to the theater, watching a tragedy, and crying together to rejuvenate their sense of humanity. That was Greek culture. The Romans go to the Colosseum and watch gladiator fights. They like blood. They like violence. The Aeneid is an extremely violent poem. In fact, you can say it's almost pornographic in the violence that it depicts. The Romans just love this because they are a bloodthirsty people.

Priam is dead, and with his death, the poem is negating the moral lesson of the Iliad: to forgive one's enemy. The Romans read this and remember reading the Iliad, saying, "Oh my god, I was wrong to think that Priam was heroic in forgiving Achilles. What I should be thinking is what a foolish old man, who deserves to die for thinking that his enemy should be forgiven, for thinking that his enemy has a good soul in him." This is negating the Iliad; it is poisoning and corrupting the Iliad.

The Source of Evil: Love

Now Aeneas is talking about his reaction to watching his king die.

Then for the first time the full horror came home to me at last.
I froze. The thought of my own dear father filled my mind
when I saw the old king gasping out his life
with that raw wound—both men were the same age.
And the thought of my Creusa, alone, abandoned,
our house plundered, our little Iulus’ fate.
I look back. What forces still stood by me?
None. Totally spent in war, they’d all deserted,
down from the roofs they flung themselves to earth
or hurled their broken bodies in the flames.
So at just that moment I was the one man left.
And then I saw her, clinging to Vesta’s threshold,
hiding in silence, tucked away—Helen of Argos.
Glare of the fires lit my view as I looked down,
scanning the city left and right. And there she was,
terrified of the Trojans’ hate, now Troy was overpowered,
terrified of the Greeks’ revenge, her deserted husband’s rage.
That universal Fury, a curse to Troy and her native land,
and here she lurked, skulking, a thing of loathing,
cowering at the altar.
Out it flared, the fire inside my soul, my rage
ablaze to avenge our fallen country,
pay Helen back, crime for crime.

Aeneas is watching his entire civilization being destroyed, and he knows that his family will be destroyed as well. He is taken aback, paralyzed by his anger, hatred, and fear. Then he sees Helen and thinks, "This is her fault. This is why our civilization is being destroyed." The lesson from this is that love is a source of evil in the world.

Remember the Odyssey. What is the main lesson of the Odyssey? Love is the redemptive force of the world. If you are shattered as a person, it is love that will lead you home and heal you. What the Aeneid is saying is that love is what destroys civilization. Love is what corrupts you. Love is what leads you to hell.

He wants to kill Helen as revenge for the destruction of Troy. But then Aeneas's mother, Venus, steps in, appears before him, and says, "No, you can't do this. You have to go home and save your wife and your child."

So Aeneas goes home. He takes his family and leads them to the ship to escape Troy. As they are running through the streets, Aeneas puts his father on his back and holds his young son, Iulus. Creusa, his wife, has to follow them. That's the Roman priority. The most important person in the family is the patriarch, the father. Then comes the son who inherits, and the wife is just someone who follows. Her job is to serve rather than be an equal in the relationship. This is very different from the Odyssey, where in many ways, Penelope and Odysseus are equal to each other.

Aeneas gets to the ship and puts his father and son on board, ready to escape. But at the very last minute, he recognizes his wife is missing. He goes back and tries to save her, but she is dead. She killed herself. Why? Because it is her duty not to burden her husband. Her husband is destined for great things; he's destined to found an empire. So, he must marry into a new lineage, a new royal family, and therefore, she has to kill herself to free him. Not only that, but if she were to become a slave to the Greeks, it would cause him embarrassment for the rest of his life. That is the Roman perception of wifely duty. If you're not useful to your husband, just kill yourself.

“Creusa!” Nothing, no reply. And again, “Creusa!”
But then as I madly rushed from house to house,
no end in sight, abruptly, right before my eyes,
I saw her stricken ghost, my own Creusa’s shade,
but larger than life, the life I’d known so well.
I froze. My hackles bristled, voice choked in my throat.
And my wife spoke out to ease me of my anguish:
“My dear husband, why so eager to give yourself
to such mad flights of grief? It is not without
the will of the gods these things have come to pass.
But the gods forbid you to take Creusa with you,
bound from Troy together. The king of lofty Olympus
won’t allow it.
A long exile is your fate, the vast plains of the sea
are yours to plow. You will reach Hesperian land
where Lydian Tiber flows with its smooth march
through rich and loamy fields, a land of hardy people.
There great joy and a kingdom are yours to claim,
and a queen to make your wife. Dispel your tears
for Creusa whom you loved.
I will never behold the high and mighty pride
of their palaces, the Myrmidons, the Dolopians,
or go as a slave to some Greek matron. No, not I,
a daughter of Dardanus that I am, the wife of Venus’ son.
The great Mother of the Gods detains me on these shores.
And now farewell. Hold dear the son we share, we love together.”

This is very different from the Odyssey, which is really about a journey of two people, Penelope and Odysseus, to find each other again because love is the greatest force in the universe. Love is what compels the two to reunite amidst all the chaos surrounding them.

In the Aeneid, the idea is that love is hell. So, if love is hell, what is heaven? Heaven is piety. Piety just means obedience to the prophecy of the gods. It is the will of the gods that Troy be destroyed so that Rome can be created. It is the prophecy of the gods that Aeneas will be the one to lead the Trojans to found this Rome. Therefore, what is good, what is divine, is obedience to this prophecy.

"A long exile is your fate... The king of lofty Olympus won't allow it." Jupiter demands this of us. If Jupiter demands that we sacrifice ourselves, then we must do so. This reverses the Odyssey, where the gods will it that Penelope and Odysseus reunite. But here, the gods will that Aeneas and Creusa separate.

From our eyes, this doesn't sound that influential, but the reality is this becomes the basis of Roman civilization. And what is civilization but a set of values, a set of ideas that guide you in your life? What this is doing is inverting, poisoning, and corrupting Homer.