Value of Virtue

"Unlike Greek mythical figures, the heroes of Rome's early past were not taller, stronger, wealthier, or better-looking than their remote descendants; they were exceptional only in virtue." - Ancient Mediterranean World, p118

Virtue is defined as moral excellence; goodness; righteousness. This fact, that Romans chose to idolize those who portrayed these fine qualities instead of those which are merely shallow and superficial, evidently shows their great respect for what really matters. The Greeks praised men and women of strength leading to great heroic glory whether by means of athletic competition or even the slaying of a giant monster. But the Romans on the other hand showed respect for those who used their skills for the greater good, exemplifying how high they valued dignified morality.

Anger

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."
- Aristotle

The Ultimate Vanquisher

"Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of worlds, we have not yet conquered one?”
-Alexander the Great

As ultimate conqueror of his century, and under the belief that he was a descendant of the almighty Zeus, Alexander the Great was unsatisfied when in one place, knowing there were areas, other city-states, other societies he had yet to succeed and assume his place as a war hero. Unfortunately, his need to take over various places came at the toll of thousands of lives, no matter who they may be. Nonetheless, he used his god-given abilities to his advantage and didn't let a soul stand in his path

Alexander the Great: Conqueror or Killer?

"This army Alexander inherited, and with it the idea that war meant not the defeat of the enemy, the return of the dead, the construction of a trophy and the settlement of existing disputes but rather the annihilation of all combatants and the destruction of the culture itself that had dared to field such opposition to his imperial rule."
- Victor Davis Hanson, Butcher of Macedon

Alexander the Great is known as one of the greatest, most skilled battle strategists of all time, as he continued to take over a vast area of Asia Minor, Persia, winning war after war, combat after combat and taking life after life. He and his army killed thousands upon thousands, relentless in their slaughterings, whether man, woman, child, slave. But were these killings all justified? That is the question historians have and will continue to ask themselves for years to come, and the only real answer is, in my opinion, no. He was merciless in allowing endless amounts of lives to be taken on his account without a single regret. He felt he was born a warrior, and therefore meant to kill. So he conquered as much territory as possible, to fulfill his own greedy need to be almighty. How can this be justified?

Order and Reason = Fear and Folly?

"Take to heart what I say, Pentheus: don't be too sure that force is what controls human affairs; and if you have a thought and your thought is unhealthy, do not think your folly is wisdom. Receive the god into your land, pour libations, worship Bacchus and garland your head! It is not for Dionysus to force women to show chastity in the affairs of love; this lies in their own nature."

-Teiresias, 309-317, The Bacchae


Pentheus's traditions of order and reason have begun to lead to the destruction of his own wisdom. Preachings of Dionysus's religion make its worshippers disobey the usual, established practices of mankind and thus cause a disturbance in Pentheus's so-called "order" which he has established as the King of Thebes. Pentheus wants to use force to reinstate the city he controls, but Teiresias is wiser when he says that Pentheus should join Bacchus and worship Dionysus, furthermore that Dionysus is not responsible for how women act and they do so as they please. Therefore, Pentheus should not be responsible for forcibly controlling how his people act as well. It is now up to Pentheus to respect the wiser elder and take his advice.

Wealth vs. Glory

"And now, dear Margaret, do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path. Oh, that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative! My courage and my resolution is firm; but my hopes fluctuate, and my spirits are often depressed."

-Frankenstein, p17, par.3

Reflection of the Human Life

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world: but the time will soon come when, I trust we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain, - the impalpable principle of life and though, pure as when it left the Creator to inspire the creature: whence it came it will return; perhaps again to be communicated to some being higher than man - perhaps to pass through gradations of glory, from the pale human soul to brighten to the seraph!
-Helen Burns, Jane Eyre, p70

"Each of us in our own way can try to spread compassion into people's hearts.
Western civilizations these days place great importance on filling the human 'brain' with knowledge, but no one seems to care about filling the human 'heart' with compassion. This is what the real role of religion is."
- Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

"All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few."
- Stendhal, 19th Century French Writer

Civilization; Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

"You can't say civilization doesn't advance ... In every war they kill you in a new way."
- Will Rogers, American Entertainer

"As long as our civilization is esentially one of property, of fences, of exclusiveness, it will be mocked by delusions." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet

"Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world, at peace."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President

Odysseus - Mightiest King, Mightiest Beggar

"The two men squared off-
...with a hook below the ear, pounding Irus's neck,
smashing the bones inside-
suddenly red blood
came spurting out of his mouth, and headlong down
he pitched in the dust, howling, teeth locked in a grin,
feet beating on the ground...
'Now hold your post - play the scarecrow to all the pigs and dogs!
But no more lording it over strangers, no more playing
the beggar-king for you, you loathsome fool,
or you'll bring down something worse around your neck!'
He threw his beggar's sack across his shoulders -
torn and tattered ...
then back he went to the sill and took his seat."
Book 18, lines 108-127, The Odyssey

Again and again, Odysseus proves himself as a man beyond average men, a hero of strength no matter what his outer appearances may mislead. Here, he takes down another beggar (aka, "one of his kind"), as unexpected by taunting witnesses. Throughout the end of the epic, he continues to affirm and demonstrate outstanding greatness, whether through skill, cunning, or physique, Odysseus has the whole package of a hero.

Father & Son Reunited

"'No, I am not a god,'
the long-enduring, great Odysseus returned.
'Why confuse me with one who never dies?
No, I am your father -
the Odysseus you wept for all your days,
you bore a world of pain, the cruel abuse of men.'"
-Book 16, lines 209-214, The Odyssey

The Almighty Forever

"So they mocked, but Odysseus, mastermind in action,
once he'd handled the great bow and scanned every inch,
then, like an expert singer skilled at lyre and song ...
with his virtuoso ease Odysseus strung his mighty bow ...
Horror swept through the suitors, faces blanching white
... drawing the notch
and bowstring back, back ... he let fly -
clean on through to the last and out"
Book 21, lines 451-470, The Odyssey

This momentous act allowed Odysseus's true kleos to shine through, even in the form of another body. Disguised as the lowest of the lows in society, this showed Odysseus's true value as a hero, being able to out-skill all others as their jaws dropped in amazement. Even without his outer, beautiful appearance of muscle and strength, he can still prove he is a hero with a "mastermind" of cunning and finesse, as well as showing himself as the rightful man for his bride.

Is it Okay to Believe What's Right in Front of Your Eyes?

"Living proof -
Penelope felt her knees go slack, her heart surrender,
recognizing the strong clear signs Odysseus offered.
She dissolved in tears, rushed to Odysseus, flung her arms
around his neck ...
But don't fault me, angry with me now because I failed,
at the first glimpse, to greet you, hold you so ...
In my heart of hearts I always cringed with fear
some fraud might come, beguile me with his talk;
the world is full of the sort,
cunning ones who plot their own dark ends."
- Book 23, p462, lines 230-245, The Odyssey

After the longest 20 years of their lives, the gods have long tested the love between Odysseus and Penelope, ultimately giving them every opportunity to give up on each other after years upon years apart. They have faced overwhelming evidence that they were meant to be apart, with Penelope having countless men to choose from to replace the invaluable Odysseus, thinking she might never rest her eyes upon him again, in addition to the several obstacles and temptations Odysseus faced along the journey back to his native territory. The tests of their love have been so agonizing that the idea of finally reuniting with the love of her life is completely inconceivable. She thinks this must be some sort of cruel joke, a misuse of the skill of cunning. However, when she finally realizes that her dreams have long last become reality, the euphoria is incomparable.

Odysseus: Hero of Suffering

"...So now they writhed, gasping as Scylla swung them up her cliff and there at her cavern's mouth she bolted them down raw - screaming out, flinging their arms toward me, lost in that mortal struggle ... Of all the pitiful things I've had to witness, suffering, searching out the pathways of the sea, this wrenched my heart the most."
The Odyssey, Book 12, Lines 275-282

Odysseus is a man who has suffered the most vexatious, extreme, excruciating pain over the course of 20 years; fighting bravely and better than most in one of the most epic wars in history in addition to being away from his beloved family and battling the endless obstacles on his way to native land. This quote is just from one of those many interferences, during the voyage through the man-eating monster Scylla's territory. Odysseus tells the story of this voyage, in which he lost six men to each of the Scylla's six lethal heads, and mentions that of all the physical and emotional pain he has had to suffer, "this wrenched my heart the most". The fact that he describes this event as the most pain he has experienced in these twenty years says a great deal about his character. He is someone who would choose themselves to die over any other, and it pains him most to see his men dying than it did to, for example, fight off the deadly Cyclops. Odysseus is a hero to be valued not only for his immense strength, but also for his chivalrous amiability.

Importance of Mythology

"Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths."
-Joseph Campbell, American prolific author

"We can keep from a child all knowledge of earlier myths, but we cannot take from him the need for mythology."
-Carl Gustav, Swiss Psychiatrist

History

"History is written by the victors."

-Winston Churchill

The Ancient Greeks shaped the realities we currently live within. As one of the first civilizations, they were victorious in becoming pioneers of communication, philosophy, battle strategies, culture, art - including pottery and architecture among several others - and most famously known, their forms of government using democracy.
All of these things live on to this day. We use the English language which originated from Greek. We hear the words of their philosophers on a day-to-day basis and apply them to guide us through the obstacles of modern life. The ingenius ways they fought battles can be used in today's wars and their culture lives through the Olympics and mythical stories they told that can still teach us many of the same lessons. We can drive around our own communities and see the same methods of architecture - pillars, columns. And finally, their invention of democracy gives us the opportunity to live a free life without letting the government take away our ability to voice the way we think our society should be run. With the right to vote, we can't be led by tyrants and justice is allowed for all.
Each and every one of these contributions to our ways of life the Greeks have given us can be considered a victory on their behalves, therefore allowing them to be remembered for the rest of eternity.

Chaos...

"Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny, but chaos in the midst of order is."
Steve Martin, Comedian

Odysseus Held Captive

"Atlas' daughter it is who holds Odysseus captive, luckless man - despite his tears, forever trying to spellbind his heart with suave, seductive words and wipe all thought of Ithaca from his mind. But he, straining for no more than a glimpse of hearth-smoke drifting up from his own land, Odysseus longs to die ..."

Athena,
Book 1, lines 65-71
The Odyssey

Hamlet Soliloquy

O, God, a beast, that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer - married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules.

Hamlet. (I.ii.152-155.)

Henry Rollins: Heroes

"The average is the borderline that keeps mere men in their place. Those who step over the line are heroes by the very act. Go."
-Henry Rollins

Anyone can live an average life. Anyone can get average grades, an average job, or live an average lifestyle. We can all breeze by life, letting others take responsibility for our mistakes and poor choices of judgement. But it's those that go above and beyond, those that don't just reach expectations, but exceed expectations, that become the heroes of our times. This quote is about going that extra step, or even further past that extra step that turns the average into the hero. Being a hero involves, not only making a difference in the world, but doing so in order to better the lives of others. Heroes are considered those who save others from turmoil, or the ones who run towards a violent situation rather than the 99% of people who walk away. Heroes are the ones who refuse to stand by and let catastrophic circumstances deteriorate their lives and the lives of everyone around them, but rather face them head on with immense stregnth and tenacity in order to overcome overwhelming calamities. They run past that borderline by which we all stand and observe.