Also Sprach Nietzsche
“ ‘Why did the whole Greek world exult over the combat scenes in the Iliad?’ asks Friedrich
Nietzsche. We modern readers do not even begin to understand them ‘in a sufficiently
“Greek” manner’. If we understood them in Greek, ‘we should shudder’. Nietzsche does not
mean in the Greek language but in the Greek spirit. Whoever reads the Iliad … has to come
to terms with the profound ‘otherness’ of one of the very traditions which lie at the root of
ours.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 17
“That mortal is a fool who sacks a city” ~ Euripides, The Trojan Women
The Greeks were not humane, not anymore
Then owners of the Guineamen on waves
Of empire. Ancient Greeks loved Homer’s gore.
They loved men’s death, hard rape of women, slaves,
Yes, all the worst of war. They loved it all.
The glory of the gore was what it bought.
They loved the gore itself. This might appall
Us now. Our lily consciences are brought
To nausea, but Greeks had thorns for souls:
No mild pastels for nature, not for these
Axe warriors. They drove swords and sharpened poles
Through bellies. Blood soaked ground was not some sleaze
To them. It opened up slick grandeurs, like
Wealth. Greeks thought human nature was a spike.