THE SIMILES OF THE LOVER OF WISDOM

The clearest picture Homer offers of himself as a distinctively theoretical human being is through his similes, especially in the Iliad.^[258] Whereas Homer presents 309 similes there in his own name, he presents 33 through 17 of his human characters, and 9 through 5 of his gods.^[259] And whereas almost none of Homer’s own similes are repeated,^[260] 10 of the 33 similes spoken by his human characters simply and even crudely compare war­riors they are criticizing to foolish and weak women and children.^[261] Many of Homer’s similes in the Iliad are singularly arresting: for example,

Like the nations of swarming bees, always coming out anew from a hollow rock, and in clusters they fly upon spring flowers, and they fly in swarms together this way and that way, so the many nations [of the Achaians] from ships and huts beside the shore of the deep sea were marching forward to the assembly, in order, by companies.

As when a sharp shaft lays hold of a woman, and she suffers piercing pain, which the goddesses of childbirth send forth, the daughters of Hera, who hold the bitter pain, so the sharp pain descended on the furious spirit of the son of Atreus. (ιι. 269-272)

In every part the towers and fortifications were spattered with the blood of mortals, from both sides, Trojans and Achaians. But they could not drive panic into the Achaians but they held, as a careful woman, working with her hands, holds steady a scale, and she draws back the wool on both sides, making them equal, so that she may win a meager wage for her children. So their battle and war were stretched out equally. (12.430-436)

They [the Trojans] poured forth, in companies, and in front was Apollo, holding the aegis, highly honored, and with great ease he threw down the wall of the Achaians, as when some child in the sand by the sea makes a plaything in his innocent foolishness and then would wreck it with his hands and feet, still playing.

As a father mourns while he burns the bones of his child, newly married, whose dying brought grief to his miserable parents, so Achilles mourned while he burned the bones of his companion and dragged himself by the fire, groaning thickly. (23.222-225)

Inasmuch as these similes compare in a vivid, surprising, and thought­provoking way seemingly incomparable beings - bees and warriors, a gravely wounded warrior-king and a woman in childbirth, a raging battle and a woman weighing wool, a god and a child, a father mourning his child and a warrior mourning his friend - they bear witness to the grandeur and the boldness of Homer’s artistry, his capacity to bring together disparate things through his imagination.

But furthermore, Homer’s similes bear witness to the greatness of his mind, to both the synoptic range of his contemplation and the inquisitive penetration of his intellect. In the first place, his similes are not only great in number but vast in scope. As the similes reveal, Homer thoughtfully surveys all of nature, from the stars in the heaven - “As a star moves among stars in the darkness of night, the evening star, which is the most beautiful star that stands in the heaven, so did the well-pointed spear shine forth, which Achilles brandished with his right hand, pondering evil for divine Hector” (22.317-320) - to wasps along a path -

They [the Myrmidons] immediately poured out like wasps in the road, which children are accustomed to stir up, always taunting, having homes on the road. Fools! They make an evil that is common to many. If a human being, a wayfarer, comes beside them and should unintentionally set them in motion, they, having a mighty heart, would fly at him and protect their offspring. At that time the Myrmidons, having a heart and spirit like theirs, poured out of their ships.

(16.259-267)

His powers of observation, and evidently his curiosity, encompass the entire natural world, ranging from such celestial bodies¹⁴³ as stars (9)¹⁴⁴ and sun (5)¹⁴⁵ and moon (3)¹⁴⁶ to such insects (8)¹⁴⁷ as bees, cicadas, locusts, wasps, and flies; from such bodies of water and liquid (22)¹⁴⁸ as seas and rivers and springs and oil to fire (28);¹⁴⁹ and from wind (12)¹⁵⁰ and clouds (7)¹⁵¹ to snow (7),¹⁵² lightning (4),¹⁵³ thunder (2),¹⁵⁴ mist (3),¹⁵⁵ and rainbows (2).¹⁵⁶ Homer also contemplates the plant world, including trees (10),¹⁵⁷ flowers (2),¹⁵⁸ wheat (1),¹⁵⁹ and beans (1)¹⁶⁰ and the animal world, from snakes (3),¹⁶¹ worms (1),¹⁶² and sea creatures (2)¹⁶³ to birds (17),¹⁶⁴ such as hawks, vultures, eagles, doves, geese, cranes, jackdaws, and starlings, and especially to animals (84),¹⁶⁵ such

¹43

144

¹45

¹47

148

See also the celestial bodies in Homer’s account of the shield of Achilles: 18.483-489.

4.75-79, 5.4-8, 6.289-295, 6.399-403, 8.555-561, ιι.61-65, 19.380-383, 22.25-32, 22.3i8-320.

⁶.5¹3^{, i}4.ⁱ⁸5^{, i}9.ⁱ7^{, 1}9.39^{8, 22}.¹34^-135. ^{146 8}.555^{, 1}9.374^{, 2}3.455.

2.87-94, 2.469-473, 3.i50-i53, 4.i30-i3i, i6.259-267, i6.637-644, i7.569-573, 2I.I2-l6.

2.i44-i46, 2.2o8-2IO, 2.394-397, 2.754, 4.422-429, 5.84-92, 7.4-7, 7.63-66,

9.13-145, ¿¿.492-497, 13.795-801, 14.16-22, 14.393-401, 15.381-386,

I5.6i7-62i, l6.3-4, l6.384-393, i7.263-266, 2i.257-264, 21.362-367, as lions, boars, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, deer, dogs, wolves, donkeys, rabbits, and leopards.

¹49

ⁱ5^o

^{15 1}

¹5²

ⁱ53

ⁱ55

ⁱ57

158

161

164

ⁱ⁶5

22.i49-i5θ, 22.i5i-i52.

1.104, 2.455, 2.780, 5.4-8, 8.555-561, 11.155-162, 13.39, 13.330, 13.673, 13.688, 14.393-401, 15.603-606, 16.297-302, 17.87-89, 17.366, 17.735-741, 18.³, 18.154, l8.207-2i4, 19.365-366, 19.375-38θ, 2θ.4i9-423, 2θ.49θ-494, 2I.I2-l6, 2i.346-349, 2i.522-525, 22.i34-i35, 22.i49-i5θ.

2.147-152, 5.499-505, 7.4-7, 9.4-8, ¿¿.304-309, 12.40, 13.795-801, 14.393-401, i5.38l-386, I5.6i7-62i, 2i.346-349, 23.365-366.

4.275-292, 5.5i9-527, 5.864-867, II.296-298, i3.39-43, l6.297-302, 23.365-366. IO.5-IO, I2.i54-i58, i2.278-289, i3.754-755, I5.i7θ-i73, 19.357-36l,

22.i5i-i52.

IO.i5θ-i54, i3.24θ-245, i4.382-387, I4.4i4-42O. ¹⁵⁴ 2.78θ-783, IO.5-IO.

I. 357-359, 3.IO-i4, 23.99-102. ¹⁵⁶ 11.25-28, 17.547-552.

4.482-489, 5.559-560, 12.131-136, 13.177-182, 13.389-393, 13.434-439, 14.414-420, 16.482-486, 16.633-637, 17.53-60.

2.467-468, 8.306-308. ¹⁵⁹ II.67-71. ¹⁶⁰ 13.588-592.

3.33-37, 11.25-28, 22.93-97. ¹⁶² 13.653-655. ¹⁶³ 16.404-410, 21.22-26.

2.459-466, 3.1-8, 5.778-781, 13.531-533, 14.289-291, 15.690-695, 16.426-430, 16.582-583, 17.460-463, 17.673-680, 17.755-759, 18.615-616, 21.251-253, 2i.493-496, 22.i39-i44, 22.3θ6-3i2, 24.3i4-3i9.

².474^-47^{6, 2}.477^-4⁸⁰, ².4⁸¹, 3.^21-29^, 3.44^8-45^o, 4.²53^, 4.433^-43^6, 4.47^o-47², 5.¹33^-143^, 5.ⁱ59^-i65^, 5.²97^-3^θ2, 5√54^-559^, 5√⁸2 5√⁸3^, 5√⁸3^-7⁸4^{, 6}√^o6-5¹4^, 7.255-256, 7.257, 8.130-131, 8.338-342, 10.180-189, 10.296-298, 10.360-364, 10.485-488, ιι.72-73, 11.113-121, 11.128-130, 11.170-178, 11.238-240,

II. 292-295, ιι. 323-325, 11.411-420, 11.473-484, II. 545-546, II. 547-556,

Finally, Homer reveals himself to be a keen and thoughtful observer of the human world, not only through his countless similes comparing human characters to animals, plants, insects, worms, stars, fire, wind, water, and divinities (26)¹⁶⁶ - for example, “As devouring fire rages through the deep gorges of a dry mountain, and sets ablaze the deep forest, and in every direction rushing wind whirls the flame about, so he [Achilles], in every direction, charged, with his spear, equal to a divinity, following upon those who were killed. The earth flowed black with blood” (20.490-494) - but also through his similes comparing human warriors and gods to women (3)¹⁶⁷ - including protective and careful mothers and women in labor - girls (1),¹⁶⁸ and children (2)¹⁶⁹ - for example,

Teukros came ninth, stretching his curved bow, and he stood under the shield of Ajax, son of Telamon.

Two of Homer’s similes compare children’s toys to wounded and dead warriors: (13.202-204, 14.409-414). Two of Homer’s other similes penetrate the inner experiences of human consciousness, from the state of thinking to the state of dreaming: “As when the mind of a man leaps, who has gone through much territory and thinks in his thoughtful mind, ‘Would that I were there, or in that place,’ and he ponders many things, so quickly did Lady Hera fly” (15.80-83); “As in a dream one is not able to pursue the one who flees, nor is he able to flee out from under, nor the

II. 556-564, 12.4i-5θ, I2.i4i-i53, i2.29θ-293, i2.298-3θ8, 13. i97-202, ¹3.4⁶9^-477^{, i}3.4⁸9^-495^{, 1}3.57^o-573^{, 1}5.²⁶3^-27^o, ¹5.²7^1-27^{8, 1}5.3²3^-3²4^,

15.324-328, 15.579-584, 15.585-590, 15.592-593, 15.630-638, 16.156-167,

16.352-357, 16.486-491, 16.751-754, 16.755-758, 16.823-829, I7.I-5, 17.61-69, 17.108-114, 17.132-139, 17.281-287, 17.432-440, 17.520-524, 17.540-542,

17.656-667, 17.722-734, 17.742-747, 18.161-164, 18.318-323, 20.163-175,

166

^l67

2θ.4θ3-4θ6, 2O.495-5O2, 2i.29-33, 21.237-238, 2i.573-582, 22.I-3, 22.2i-24, 22.l6l-166, 22.l88-i93, 23.453-456, 23.5i7-523, 24.572.

2.477-478, 2.479 (2), 5.436-439, 7.207-213, 8.304-305, II. 60, II.294-295, II. 601-603, II. 637, 12.130, 13.298-305, 13.802-803, 15.603-606, 16.702-706, l6.784-787, i9.282, i9.286, 19.397-399, 2θ.45-46, 20.447-448, 2θ.49θ-494, 21.i7-2θ, 2i.227, 22.i3i-i34, 24.699.

8.268-272, ¿¿.269-272, 12.432-437. ¹⁶⁸ 2.872. ¹⁶⁹ 8.268-272, 15.359-366. other pursue, so he [Achilles] was not able to overtake him [Hector] with his feet, nor was the other able to escape” (22.199-201). Through such similes, Homer comes to sight as one whose passion for knowledge ranges from celestial to earthly things, from fowl, fish, and insect to animal and human, from old to young, male to female, pleasure to sorrow, and dreams to reality. Such is the mind of the lover of wisdom who seeks to understand the world in all its manifold nature.

While these similes certainly exhibit Homer’s rich imagination in their vividness and artfulness, they are more accurately understood as products of Homer’s philosophic mind.^[262] For rather than creating connections between unconnected things, Homer’s similes point to the genuinely common properties of seemingly unconnected things and the importance of recognizing and reflecting on those properties. Let us recall, for example, the simile that compares Agamemnon with a woman in child­birth: “As when a sharp shaft lays hold of a woman, and she suffers piercing pain, which the goddesses of childbirth send forth, the daughters of Hera, who hold the bitter pain, so the sharp pain descended on the furious spirit of the son of Atreus” (ιι.269-272). On the one hand, the two subjects compared here seem, at first glance, wholly opposite: a famous and powerful king and a nameless woman, a deadly warrior pierced with a nearly deadly shaft and a woman giving birth. And yet, on the other hand, as Homer’s simile points out, both the wounded Agamemnon and the woman in childbirth do suffer genuine pain. And recognizing this common property that unites these two seemingly incom­parable individuals leads one to ponder the nature of human pain and its significance for human beings. Pain, for example, is a great equalizer, for it afflicts the mighty and the lowly, the renowned and the anonymous, men and women. Is the opposite of pain, pleasure, then, not a greater good than power or fame for human beings? But, as Homer’s simile also indicates, pain is present at both the moment of death or near death and at the moment of birth, at the end of life and at the beginning of life. Is pain, then, not an inescapable feature of human life? How great a human good, then, can pleasure be if it is inevitably shadowed by pain? Is there some other human good that retains its goodness even in the midst of, or at least the shadow of, pain? Such are the questions raised by recognizing the underlying similarity of these two seemingly wholly dissimilar individuals.

Homer’s most common similes are those that compare, in a wide variety of invariably thought-provoking ways, humans to animals, for instance, in the first such simile:

Then, as Menelaus beloved of Ares considered him [Paris], coming before the throng with long strides, he rejoiced, as when a lion encounters a great body, finding either a stag or a wild goat, and he is hungry. For he devours it, even if swift dogs and vigorous young men are chasing him. So did Menelaus rejoice beholding with his eyes godlike Alexandros. For he said he would punish the sinner. (3.21-28)

Now, on the surface, a righteously indignant man like Menelaus who anticipates with satisfaction punishing the injustice of the man who abused his hospitality and robbed him of his wife, would seem wholly different from and superior to a hungry lion who anticipates with satis­faction devouring a dead animal. And yet, as Homer’s simile suggests, both do experience a joy at satisfying a desire or need, to punish a sinner or to eat food. By stressing the similarity of their satisfaction, Homer raises the question whether there is a similarity between the seemingly noble desire to see that justice is done, either in the case of Menelaus in particular or even in the case of all human beings, and the animal desire for food. Is, for example, the human desire to do justice as instinctive, as visceral, as the animal desire for food? Is the desire to punish injustice as self-interested as the desire for food? What is the relation between justice and self-interest? Such are the questions Homer’s simile points us to.

Similarly, Homer’s similes compare, in a variety of ways, dying war­riors with falling trees on six occasions:^[263] for example,

The spear point went straight through his tender neck, and he fell thunderously, and his arms clattered upon him. His locks of hair, like the graces, were wet with blood, locks which had been wasped with gold and silver. As the flourishing shoot of an olive tree, which a man rears in a lonely place, that has drunk water aplenty, beautiful and perfectly flourishing. And the blasts of all sorts of winds shake it, and it teems with a white flower. But then a wind, coming suddenly in a great tempest, twists it out of its trench and stretches it out on the ground. So was the son of Panthoos, Euphorbus, of the good ashen spear, once the son of Atreus, Menelaus, killed him and stripped him of his armor. (17.49-60)

These similes most obviously identify the common motion of falling shared by a tree that has been felled and a warrior who has suffered a mortal blow. But, upon further reflection, these similes raise the question of whether humans are not as mortal as trees, which are “flourishing” and even “beautiful” but whose dead bodies, for example, lie “drying... beside the banks of a river” and are used to craft “a wheel for an exceedingly beautiful chariot” or as timber for ships.^[264] Pondering these similes may lead one to ask, is not the death of humans as final as the death of trees, even though dead human bodies are, as we have seen, spoken to and punished and fought over by the human characters in the poem? By inviting us to recognize and reflect on the shared characteristics of trees and humans that are cut down, Homer’s similes prompt us to ponder the nature and significance of human death.

Homer’s similes highlight the importance of moving beyond our per­ceptions of particular things in order to recognize the shared characteris­tics of seemingly different things - for example, the pain shared by a wounded warrior and a woman in labor (11.269-272); the grief shared by a father of a son and a man bereft of his friend (23.222-225); the glow of a forest fire and of the bronze armor of an army (2.455-458); the precarious balance of a battle and of the scale of a careful woman (12.430-438) - and, more broadly, the common properties or natures of things - for example, pain,^[265] joy,^[266] beauty,^[267] burning,^[268] darkening,^[269] light,^[270] thickness,^[271] sound,^[272] fear,^[273] and spirited fury.^[274] They point to the question of the natures of things, questions that might be posed, in the manner of Socrates, as What Is questions: for example, what is pain? what is joy? what is light? what is fear? what is fury? Above all, by comparing humans repeatedly to animals, to plants, and to divinities, Homer’s similes raise the most far-reaching questions concerning the nature of human beings. Are humans as mortal as trees or animals? How might the passions of humans differ, if at all, from that of beasts? How might the power or form of humans differ from that of divinities?^[275] In these ways, the similes raise the question, what is the distinctive nature of human beings, that distinguishes them from the other beings, from, for example, beasts and gods?

179

180

Through his explicit judgments, his accounts of death, and his similes, Homer comes to sight as a foundational philosophic figure. In his skepti­cism concerning the gods,^[276] his recognition and acceptance of human mortality,^[277] his quest for knowledge of the whole and inquiry into the nature of things,^[278] his teaching of the importance of moving beyond perceptible particulars to uncover the intelligible common properties or common forms,^[279] and his understanding of human nature in relation to gods and beasts,^[280] we may recognize what were to be hallmarks of classical philosophy, ranging from Xenophanes and Democritus to Plato and Aristotle, hallmarks first articulated by Homer in the Iliad. It is no wonder that Homer was recognized by Plato^[281] and also by Montaigne^[282] as laying the foundations for classical philosophy.