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Jun. 20th, 2006 08:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I'm reading the Iliad (Fitzgerald translation) -- I do actually rather like the translation, but I am struck by how whiny and obnoxious all the characters are. If this were a novel, I would have already skipped to the last page to find out the plot. Of course, I already know the plot of the Iliad, so I guess I could even skip that step.
ACHILLES: Waah! Mommy, help!
ZEUS: Dude, I'm the god of gods here. Don't mess with me. Unless you're a pretty girl, that is. Yeah, then I'll do whatever you say. Because I'm so godly and all.
OTHER GODS: Okay, he said not to mess with him, so we'll just go behind his back. Because being a god and all, he won't realize what we're doing. Once the Judeo-Christian god gets the idea to be omniscient, he's gonna kick our butts.
MORTALS: Hey Zeus, we're making sacrifices to you and we'd like you to do various contradictory things!
ZEUS: I've already made up my mind to help that pretty Thetis there, so you could've saved your meat and wine and had it yourself. But thanks anyway.
ACHILLES: Waah! Mommy, help!
ZEUS: Dude, I'm the god of gods here. Don't mess with me. Unless you're a pretty girl, that is. Yeah, then I'll do whatever you say. Because I'm so godly and all.
OTHER GODS: Okay, he said not to mess with him, so we'll just go behind his back. Because being a god and all, he won't realize what we're doing. Once the Judeo-Christian god gets the idea to be omniscient, he's gonna kick our butts.
MORTALS: Hey Zeus, we're making sacrifices to you and we'd like you to do various contradictory things!
ZEUS: I've already made up my mind to help that pretty Thetis there, so you could've saved your meat and wine and had it yourself. But thanks anyway.