The Iliad of Homer - Get a Free Blog

tracts little from the dignity of
the idea which it presents.
Such were the friendships of
Hercules and Iolaus, of
Theseus and Pirithous, of
Orestes and Pylades; and
though These may owe the
greater part of their fame to the
later epic or even dramatic poetry,
the moral groundwork undoubtedly
subsisted in the period
to which the traditions are
referred. The argument of the
Iliad mainly turns on the affection
of Achilles for Patroclus,
whose love for the greater hero
is only tempered by reverence
for his higher birth and his unequalled
prowess. But the mutual
regard which united Idomeneus
and Meriones,
Diomedes and Sthenelus,
though, as the persons them-