Sublime

Once a Spartan boy stole a fox and hid it under his cloak. Some grown warriors stopped to question him on an unrelated subject. Beneath the cloak, the fox began gnawing at the youth’s belly. The boy made no sound but allowed the beast to bleed him to death, rather than cry out or reveal his deed.

On pourrait là renverser la thèse de Simone Weil. L’Iliade est certes le poème de la force, mais aussi celui de la faiblesse. Car la force en marche dans l’Iliade, le choc des glaives et la ruée des troupes cachent une pauvreté... la faiblesse de l’homme face aux dieux qui le poussent à la guerre. La lâcheté de l’homme incapable d’échapper à son

Chiron’s voice held a warning of displeasure. “She is a goddess, Achilles, and your mother besides. Do you think so little of her wishes?” “I honor her, Chiron. But she is wrong in this.”

no claims to literary or rhetorical education and no political ambition, who spent the whole of the first half of his life as a slave. He was a lifelong cripple, probably the result of having his leg broken by a cruel owner in early life. But he was brought to Rome in his youth and owned by Nero’s secretary, the freedman Epaphroditus.