The Iliad & The Odyssey

by Homer

We gods are continually suffering in the most cruel manner at one another’s hands while helping mortals; and we all owe you a grudge for having begotten that mad termagant of a daughter, who is always committing outrage of some kind. We other gods must all do as you bid us,

women forsooth not men,

Then at last his sorrowing wife detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken; she reminded him how the men are slain, and the city is given over to the flames, while the women and children are carried into captivity; when he heard all this, his heart was touched, and he donned his armour to go forth.

R12305271758 Here we are reminded of the importance of being learned about history. Even the ordinary wife, armed with such knowledge and wisdom, could stay such a ferocious heart not with a direct appeal to pathos or ethos, but with sound reason.

A physician is worth more than several other men put together, for he can cut out arrows and spread healing herbs.”