lost in translation

The latest cinematic version of the Iliad opens this Friday. Based on the cast—which includes Peter O'Toole, Brad Pitt, and Sean Bean, among other luminaries—and the price tag (some $200 million), Troy should be one astonishing spectacle.

The operative word, of course, being should. Unfortunately, some of the advance word at geekdom central has been less than stellar.

Guess we will find out this weekend. But in the meantime, there is always the original—if not Homer's text as written, then at least Robert Fitzgerald's acclaimed 1974 translation.

But now the son of Peleus turned on Agamemnon
and lashed out at him, letting his anger ride in execration:

“Sack of wine, you with your cur's eyes and your antelope heart!
You've never had the kidney to buckle on armor among the troops,
or make a sortie with picked men—oh no, that way death might lie.
Safer, by god, in the middle of the army—is it not?—to
commandeer the prize of any man who stands up to you!
Leech! Commander of trash!”

You know, these days we just don't insult with the same style as they used to.

The cause of Achilles' anger was the demand by Agamemnon that he give up his war prize, the fair Briseis (whose husband, incidentally, Achilles had killed in battle). This episode takes up much of the early books of the Iliad. Achilles' insubordination in time spread, as this charge from Thersites (described as “a blabbing soldier”) demonstrates:

“Agamemnon! What have you to groan about? What more
can you gape after? Bronze fills all your huts,
bronze and the hottest girls—we hand them over
to you, you first, when any stronghold falls…”

And here I thought hottie was of recent vintage.