The Iliad of Homer - Get a Free Blog

his own, that no painter could have distinguished
them more by their features,
than the poet has by their manners. Nothing
can be more exact than the distinctions
he has observed in the different degrees
of virtues and vices. The single
quality of courage is wonderfully diversified
in the several characters of the Iliad.
That of Achilles is furious and intractable;
that of Diomede forward, yet listening
to advice, and subject to command;
that of Ajax is heavy and self-confiding;
of Hector, active and vigilant: the courage
of Agamemnon is inspirited by love
of empire and ambition; that of Menelaus
mixed with softness and tenderness for
his people: we find in Idomeneus a plain
direct soldier; in Sarpedon a gallant and
generous one. Nor is this judicious and
astonishing diversity to be found only in
the principal quality which constitutes
the main of each character, but even in
the under parts of it, to which he takes