Peace and Violence in Hesiod and Homer

Transcription

1 Peace and Violence in Hesiod and Homer by Shayna R. Marks A Senior Essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Bachelor of Arts in the Integral Curriculum of Liberal Arts. Theodora Carlile, Advisor Saint Mary s College of California March 30, 2011

2 1 There is a story of the two Greek poets, Hesiod and Homer, engaging in a poetry contest. According to the story, Hesiod is victorious not because of his ability to compose better poetry but simply because his poetry expresses ideas that contribute to a peaceful way of living as opposed to Homer s poetry which focuses on violence and brutality. In the Works and Days, Hesiod advises mortals to pursue a life that avoids violence and ill will towards others because to act opposite goes against the immortals. Everything that concerns mortals happens according to great Zeus will (37) and Hesiod s Works and Days encourages mortals to help one another in order to avoid upsetting the immortals by acting with the intention of harm. While Homer s poetry does contain certain amounts of violence and brutality, his Odyssey does not honor the violent lifestyle for mortals. In the Odyssey, practices that encourage peace are performed by mortals who are favored by immortals thus emphasizing the immortals preference for peace. In addition the hero, Odysseus, changes from finding glory in violence to not approving of violence unless willed by the immortals. The story s ending promotes peace by the immortals choice to not allow further violence but instead establish peace between Odysseus and the other people of Ithaka. These concepts of peace and the consequences of violence that are portrayed in the Odyssey are similar to those in the Works and Days. However, there is a difference in the way each poem involves the recipient. The Odyssey can appeal to both a person s reason and emotion while the Works and Days can only succeed in appealing to a person s reason. Hesiod s message for mortals in regard to violent behavior is addressed in the Works and Days. He says, But for those who occupy themselves with violence and

3 2 wickedness and brutal deeds, Kronos son, wide-seeing Zeus, marks out retribution. Often a whole community suffers in consequence of a bad man who does wrong and contrives evil (44). Hesiod remarks that to cause harm to other mortals is something not approved by Zeus and the immortals, and that to pursue such violent action will not only bring bad consequences to the committer but to other mortals around him as well. The Works and Days enforces the support for peace not only by disapproving of violence but also by specifying the importance of certain practices and their ability to discourage mortals from harming one another. These include using foresight, working to help oneself and treating strangers and visitors well. These practices encourage mortals to act without ill-will towards one another in the midst of their suffering, instead of reacting with an intent of harm. Because Hesiod sees the suffering of mortals under the immortals as inevitable(42), to live a life according to certain peace promoting standards is significant in reducing a mortal s torment and temptation to act out in violence. In the Odyssey, Odysseus choice to restrain himself from violence as the story progresses allows him to succeed in making his way back to Ithaka and reclaim his family and household. However, Odysseus and other characters who are favored by the immortals show a capability to perform peaceful practices that Hesiod believes all mortals should live by. Homer places these characters opposite the suitors and this opposition only strengthens the promotion of peace and its value to the immortals. Both Hesiod and Homer consider foresight to be an advantage for mortals and their choice of action. Hesiod addresses foresight as a means to predicting the consequences of one s actions so that they do not upset the immortals. By being able to foresee consequences, mortals become aware of bad consequences that follow acts of

4 3 violence. Hesiod tells a story that addresses the danger of not following good advice or using foresight. The result is the suffering for all mortals. Prometheus disobeyed Zeus and steals fire from him: Son of Iapetos, clever above all others, you are pleased at stealing fire and outwitted me--a great calamity both for yourself and men to come (38). To punish both Prometheus and other mortals, Zeus and the other immortals then created a gift and gave the gift to Prometheus brother, Epimetheus. Epimetheus accepted the gift from the immortals despite his brother s warning: never to accept a gift from Olympian Zeus but to send it back lest some affliction befall mortals (39). Because Epimetheus decided to not listen to his brother, he suffers. Hesiod uses this story as an example of how dangerous it is not to consider the consequences before acting. If mortals use foresight and follow good advice they will be able to act in accordance with the immortals instead of acting against them and suffer punishment. Similar to Epimetheus, the suitors receive advice that predicts the bad consequences that will follow an act but do not restrain themselves and act differently. Early on in the story, Halithersês sees two fighting eagles sent by Zeus as a sign for the suitors to leave Odysseus house: Hear me Ithakans! Hear what I have to say, and may I hope to open the suitors eyes to the black wave towering over them. Odysseus will not be absent from his family long: he is already near, carrying in him a bloody doom for all these men, and sorrow for many more on our high seamark, Ithaka. ( )

5 4 Halithersês advises the suitors to go home if they do not want to be punished for their actions. Yet the suitors do not listen to Halithersês and continue to stay and take advantage of Odysseus house without any regard for the foresight that has been given to them. They do not show any capability of seeing their actions as contradictory to the will of the immortals. On the other hand, Odysseus proves himself to be capable of following advice and using foresight to his advantage. Odysseus receives foresight from Teirêsias on how to return home safely by following certain actions but does not allow himself to lose his restraint as the suitors do. When Odysseus goes to the underworld to see Teirêsias he is warned about touching the cattle of Hêlios on Thrinakia: Avoid those kine, hold fast to your intent, and hard seafaring brings you all to Ithaka. But if you raid these beeves, I see destruction for ship and crew. ( ) Odysseus and his men run out of food after spending awhile on Thrinakia but Odysseus does not kill any of the cattle. He suffers from hunger but keeps in mind what had been told to him by Teirêsias. However, his men decide to kill some of the cattle for food despite the consequences Teirêsias foretold. His men could not restrain themselves from their hunger and were killed by Zeus despite being aware of the foresight Odysseus gained from Teirêsias. Odysseus shows good judgment by restraining himself from eating any of the cattle and as a result does not upset the immortals. He follows Teirêsias advice and shows the benefit of foresight while his crew, like the suitors, show the danger of not heeding foresight. Odysseus choice to see the consequences for touching the cattle allowed him not to act against the immortals, enforcing the benefit and agreement with

6 5 Hesiod. Idleness is discouraged by the immortals in the Works and Days and the Odyssey. Hesiod encourages mortals to dedicate their lives to working because idleness encourages stealing and cheating. For a mortal to take from another is an action against the immortals: For if a man does seize wealth by force of his hands, or appropriates it by means of words--the sort of thing that often happens when profit deludes men s minds, and Shamelessness drives away Shame--the gods easily bring him low, and diminish that man s house and it is but a short time prosperity attends him (46). For a mortal to work for his own property and wealth is a promotion of peace because if a mortal helps himself and works to obtain what he wants than he is discouraged from harming another in order to achieve the same result. Even when mortals encounter strife, Hesiod advises them to restrain the urge to act out violently against others and instead to concentrate on obtaining what they want without the intention of harm. He says that there are two opposing sides to strife, each which stirs a different reaction in mortals: one that promotes ugly fighting and conflict (37) and another which rouses even the shiftless one to work (37). He emphasizes that when a mortal encounters strife by desiring something, he will have more incentive to work through his strife in order to achieve his goal: For when someone whose work falls short looks to another, towards a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and manage his household well, the neighbor vies neighbor as he hastens to wealth (37). By helping oneself, a mortal does not focus on the desire to harm another in midst of his strife. Instead, he is focused on the work he must do in order to obtain what he wants. The practice of this sort of reaction to strife discourages violence. For instance, he finds that if a mortal works hard he is more able to help himself and his

7 6 community: You should embrace work-tasks in their due order, so that your granaries may be full of substance in its season. It is from work that men are rich in flocks and wealthy, and a working man is much dearer to the immortals. Work is no reproach, but not working is a reproach; and if you work, it will readily come about that a workshy man will envy you as you become wealthy (46). If a man focuses on working he can better sustain his household with food and other resources. The working man also encourages other mortals to work so they can attain the same wealth. Hesiod believes that the glory that is sought after by being a good warrior is worth little compared to a mortal s work at home. Akhilleus says something similar to Odysseus in the underworld which could contribute his change of his view of the glory obtained through violence. When Odysseus goes to the underworld and encounters many of the men he went to Troy with who were killed in battle, Akhilleus openly regrets fighting. Akhilleus informs Odysseus that he would rather have spent his life working than chasing after glory in battle: Let me hear no smooth talk of death from you, Odysseus, light of councils. Better, I say, to break sod as a farm hand for some poor country man, on iron rations, than lord it all over the exhausted dead.( ) Akhilleus choice to go to war, fueled by his desire to kill and win glory for his violent actions, only led to his early death. Now he says that a life spent working would have been more beneficial and he admits he regretted to Odysseus. Before this admittance, Odysseus had even praised Akhilleus and reminded him of his great reputation in the living world:

8 7 But was there ever a man so blest by fortune than you Akhilleus? Can there ever be? We ranked you with immortals in your lifetime ( ) For Akhilleus, a glory he gained in his lifetime spent at war was not worth his life. He takes Hesiod s stance in favor of spending a mortal life of peace and work instead of war and violence. When the suitors stay at Odysseus house and live off of his food and servants, they demonstrate their tendency toward idleness: No; these men spend their day around our house killing our beeves and sheep and fatted goats, carousing, soaking up our good dark wine, not caring what they do. The squander everything. ( ) Their choice to not return to their own homes and work for their own food and property shows that the suitors prefer not working. They show a tendency towards taking what is not their own. Odysseus, on the other hand demonstrates his capability of working for what he wants. He shows the capability to endure work in order to achieve what he desires when he is offered immortality by Kalypso. He refuses her offer even if trying to return home only means more suffering: My lady goddess, here is no cause for anger. My quiet Penelope--how well I know-- would seem a shade before your majesty, death and old age being unknown to you, while she must die. Yet, it is true, each days

9 8 I long for home, long for the sight of home. If any god has marked me out again for shipwreck, my tough heart can undergo it. What hardship have I not since long endured at sea, in battle! Let the trial come! ( ) He admits to the work he knows he will have to face as he continues his journey home, but he does not settle for anything short of his home and family and desires only to achieve the life he knows of as a mortal. His persistence and focus on returning home is the same reaction Hesiod finds beneficial for other mortals. For mortals to practice working to help themselves when they are suffering from strife encourages them not to react violently and not to act against the immortals. Telémakhos encounters strife in the absence of his father, but instead of directing his anger and killing the suitors himself, he decides to try to obtain information of his father. Much of this strife comes from the presence of the many men at his home: It is easy for these men to like these things, harping and song; they have an easy life, scot free, eating the livestock of another-- a man whose bones are rotting somewhere now. ( ) With Odysseus lost at sea, his home has been overrun with men who want to marry his wife, and living, in the meantime, off his livestock and servants. In the beginning, Telemakhos fails to keep control of his father s household but his strife inspires him to speak his mind to the suitors and find news of his father. Even though he is troubled by the suitors taking advantage of his father s property while he is gone, Telémakhos does

10 9 not act violently against them. Instead, Telémakhos tries to find what he desires: I wish at least I had some happy man As father, growing old in his house-- ( ) Telémakhos and the suitors both want control of Odysseus property, but instead of ridding the suitors of his house, Telémakhos chooses to try to find his father for help. The strife that Hesiod says helps mortals work, manifests in Telémakhos desire for his father. Telémakhos demonstrates his capability to restrain himself from violence. His demonstration of restraint of violence is shown to be opposite of the suitors who try to kill him when they hear he is sailing to find anything of his farther. Knowing that Telémakhos is leaving Ithaka, the suitors try to ambush him on his way back home: We had lookouts posted up on heights all day in the sea wind, and every hour a fresh pair of eyes; at night we never slept ashore but after sundown cruised the open water to the southeast, patrolling until Dawn. We were prepared to cut him off and catch him, squelch him for good and all. The power of heaven steered him the long way home. Well, let this company plan his destruction, and leave him no way out, this time. I see our business here unfinished while he lives. ( ) The suitors make a great attempt to kill Telémakhos when they are afraid he might

11 10 threaten their position in his own house. In the midst of their strife, they choose to react violently. This is opposite to how Telémakhos acted when he felt the same struggle to keep his household. Instead, Telémakhos practices restraint and resists violence. Another practice of peace Hesiod addresses in the Works and Days is the good treatment of visitors and strangers. The act of accepting others can be seen as a way of encouraging mortals to act toward one another with good will instead of an intention of harm. He states that to be unkind to a visitor or stranger is an action against the immortals: It is the same if a man does wrong by a suppliant or a visitor With that man Zeus himself is indignant, and in the end imposes a harsh return for his unrighteous actions (46). To do a visitor or stranger wrong not only acts against the immortals but also against peace, because of the intention of harm. The suitors are seen in the story as being disrespectful towards the visitors that come to Odysseus home, despite being visitors themselves. When Odysseus enters his house disguised as a beggar he is abused by the suitors for no reason: God! What evil wind blew in this pest? Get over, stand in the passage! Nudge my table, will you? Egyptian whips are sweet to what you ll come to here, you noising rat, making your pitch to everyone! These men have bread to throw away on you because it is not theirs. Who cares? Who spares

12 11 another s food, when he has more than plenty? ( ) The suitors offer barely any food to him and he is treated poorly. The suitors continue to show no capability of promoting peace through not treating other mortals well. Hesiod warns against this sort of behavior believing the immortals will punish a mortal who chooses to disrespect a visitor. However, Telémakhos opposes the suitors in this instance as he is seen treating visitors in his home with respect. In the beginning of the story, Athena comes to his home disguised as a stranger and Telémakhos treats the stranger well: Greetings, stranger! Welcome to our feast. There will be time to tell your errand later.( ) Telémakhos shows no concern to who the stranger is or why he has come. He realizes that it is important to be respectful to those who visit his house and acts accordingly. Telémakhos acts opposite in a way to the suitors and demonstrates the importance of treating other people well. Penélopê, at one point, even echoes what is said in the Works and Days about treating visitors and strangers well: Now you are full grown, come of age; a man from foreign parts might take you for the son of royalty, to go by your good looks; and have you no more thoughtfulness or manners? How could it happen in our hall that you permit the stranger to be so abused? Here, in our house, a guest, can any man suffer indignity, come by such injury?

13 12 What can this be for you but public shame? ( ) Penélopê becomes upset with Telémakhos for allowing Odysseus, still disguised as an old man, to be mistreated in their house. Penélopê demonstrates a capability for being good to visitors when she criticizes Telémakhos for not taking in to account the suitors actions towards the old man. Another instance when good treatment of visitors is emphasized is when Odysseus is washed up on the shore of Phaiákia. Both King Alkínoös and his daughter Nausikaa are welcoming to Odysseus. When Odysseus appears first naked and beat up to Nausikaa and her maids by the shore, Nausikaa s maids hide frightened, but Nausikaa does not perceive him as a threat: Only Alkínoös daughter stood her ground (6.150). Nausikaa reminds her maids that strangers and beggars come from Zeus: a small gift, then, is friendly (6.222). Nausikaa s choice to take Odysseus to her father to be clothed and fed aligns with Hesiod s belief that being kind to strangers is good for mortals. King Alkínoös does not treat Odysseus any differently than his daughter does. The reassurance of the good that comes from treating visitors well is spoken by Nausikaa as she describes the people of Phaiákia being dear to the immortal gods (6.217). In the Odyssey, characters who are watched by immortals are shown to be capable of foresight, working in the midst of strife and being good to visitors and strangers. According to Hesiod, all these practices promote peace and therefore align with the immortals will because they discourage ill-will and intention of harm. The suitors who show themselves to be incapable of practicing these peaceful actions because they do not accurately use foresight, turn to violence and treating visitors and strangers poorly. Even though the Odyssey ends in peace, there is an act of violence which

14 13 contradicts the promotion of peace demonstrated thus far. Throughout the story a promotion of peace under the immortals will has been demonstrated, however, there is a moment that contradicts Hesiod and his immortals desire to discourage violence. While it has been shown that both Homer and Hesiod support violence when it is justified by the will of the immortals, towards the end of the Odyssey, an act of unnecessary violence is committed and supported by the immortals. In the finale, Odysseus visits his father, Laërtês, who lives outside of town to let him know that he has come home. During this time, word is spreading about Odysseus slaughter of all the suitors and at the assembly and a father of one of the suitors demands revenge: We d be disgraced forever! Mocked for generations if we cannot avenge our sons blood, and our brothers! Life would turn to ashes--at least for me; rather be dead and join the dead! ( ) His words, going against the advice of Medôn who claims that the slaughter of the suitors was simply the will of the immortals, move some of the townspeople to take up arms and find Odysseus. When the townspeople find Odysseus, he and Telémakhos prepare to fight and Athena encourages Telémakhos to prove himself in battle: I count on you, to bring no shame upon your forefathers. In fighting power we have excelled this lot in every generation. ( ) Telémakhos is only given the opportunity to kill one man before Athena interferes and demands peace but her words of encouragement earlier seem to emphasize the

15 14 importance of using force as a power over other mortals. Hesiod would find glorifying the act of violence in this way unacceptable because of his belief that causing harm to other mortals goes against what immortals decide as a right: But you, Perses, must take in what I say and hearken to Right, forgetting force all together. For this was the rule for men that Kronos son laid down: whereas fish and beasts and flying birds would eat one another, because Right is not among them, to men he gave Right, which is much the best in practice (45). This approval for violence by an immortal in the Odyssey is never justified and raises suspicion of the immortals judgment. By Hesiod s standards this killing of one man would be unnecessary. It is odd even in the Odyssey s context that Athena would allow only one man to be killed in this situation because of her own previous questioning of Zeus will: O Father of us all and king of kings, enlighten me. What is your secret will? War and battle, worse and more of it, or can you not impose a pact on both? ( ) Here she shows concern towards the idea of Zeus intending mortals to always pursue violence, yet later she allows one man to be killed for no justifiable reason. In response to Athena s concern, Zeus allows Athena to stop both parties from killing each other and to create peace between them. This implies that Zeus also desires peace to exist between the Ithakans, but it is still unclear as to why he does not punish Odysseus and Telémakhos for killing the one man. However, despite the unnecessary act of violence the overall promotion of peace is still apparent at the end of the story. Athena s intervention and desire for peace between Odysseus and the Ithakans was willed by Zeus. Athena even

16 15 mentions to Odysseus that the continuation of violence would upset Zeus: Son of Laërtês and the gods of old, Odysseus, master of land ways and sea ways, command yourself. Call off this battle now, or Zeus who views the wide world may be angry. ( ) The end of the story does not glorify violence or have Odysseus triumph by killing all those who stand in his way. Rather he makes peace with the people who want to kill him and demonstrates the importance of peace to the immortals. Still, the allowance of the killing of the one man seems to contradict the promotion of peace that has been demonstrated throughout the story. In the Odyssey, the same promotion of peace is also illustrated through the progress of the hero, Odysseus. At the beginning of his journey Odysseus displays a need for glory through violence, but by the time he has reached home his tendency and view toward violent behavior has changed. After blinding the Kyklops, Odysseus and his men are able to escape. However, Odysseus continues mocking the Kyklops and eventually contributes his name to the act: I would not heed them in my glorying spirit, but let my anger flare and yelled: Kyklops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laërtês son, whose home s on Ithaka! ( )

17 16 By admitting his name to the Kyklops, he attributes the act of violence to himself and accepts the glory he believes he deserves. In Odysseus attempt to claim this glory he puts all his men at risk not only by provoking the Kyklops to continue to attack them at sea, but also by upsetting Zeus: I slew him by the sea side and burnt his long thighbones to Zeus beyond the storm cloud, Kronos son, who rules the world. But Zeus disdained my offering; destruction for my ships he had in store and death for those who sailed them, my companions. ( ) After Odysseus and his men safely escape the Kyklops, Odysseus makes an offering to Zeus but it is not accepted. The reason is never explained. Hesiod might attribute the consequence to violence, and because of Odysseus change in character by the end of the story, it can be assumed that Homer would agree. Odysseus also shows his tendency to use violence in the presence of Kirke. The first time he meets her, Odysseus threatens her with his sword: Without a word, I drew my sharpened sword and in one bound held it against her throat. ( ) Odysseus is aware that the only danger of Kirkê was her magic, yet even knowing that her magic can have no effect on him, he still chooses to draw his sword and threaten her life. His desire for a glory that comes with violence is expressed in his threat against the weak. The second time he meets Kirkê, she comments on how he appears to be drawn to violence. Odysseus asks her for a way to fight against Skylla but Kirkê warns against fighting what is stronger:

18 17 Must you have battle in your heart forever? The bloody toil of combat? Old contender, will you not yield to the immortal gods? That nightmare cannot die, being eternal evil itself--horror, and pain, and chaos; there is no fighting her, no power can fight her, all avails is flight. ( ) Kirkê s advice is to encourage Odysseus not to turn to violence to solve every situation. Even though Odysseus does not immediately remember her advice and arms himself when he encounters Skylla ( ), he does not try to fight her but instead focuses on sailing past her as Kirkê recommended. In this instance, Odysseus demonstrates himself capable of restraint from violence by choosing not to fight Skylla despite violence being his first instinct. Kirkê s advice to Odysseus is the same advice Hesiod gives in the Works and Days. He puts his advice in the form of a story of a nightingale struggling against a hawk who has captured her: Goodness, why are you screaming? You are in the power of one much superior, and you will go whichever way I take you, singer though you are. I will make you my dinner if I like, or let you go. He is a fool who seeks to compete against the stronger: he both loses the struggle and suffers injury on top of insult. (43) In both Kirkê s advice and Hesiod s story there is a warning against the danger of not yielding to certain situations. Hesiod s nightingale continues to suffer by struggling against a stronger force and worsens her situation by wasting strength on something from

19 18 which she cannot escape. To save strength for the right moment by yielding to the stronger force might have enabled the nightingale to escape if the opportunity arose. If Odysseus had not heeded Kirkê s advice and decided to stop and fight Skylla, he would have risked his opportunity to return home. According to Kirkê, Odysseus would have died fighting Skylla and would have never returned to Ithaka. His choice to ignore his desire for glory through violence allows him to overcome an obstacle that would have prevented his return home. Hesiod advises other mortals not to be like the nightingale but instead to yield to the stronger. Kirkê advises Odysseus similarly by telling him to use restraint and yield to the stronger force, Skylla. When Odysseus finally returns to Ithaka, he expresses a different view of the glory obtained from violence. His first reaction is not to go to his house and angrily kill the suitors for pursuing his wife and taking advantage of his household in his absence. Instead of turning to violence, Odysseus disguises himself, with the help of Athena, and patiently waits for the right opportunity to rid the house of the suitors. His first instinct is now to restrain himself from violence where as before, with the Kyklops and Kirkê, he was drawn to act violently first. As a stranger in his own household, he is treated poorly and provoked, but Odysseus never acts violently towards the suitors while he is disguised: The stool he let fly hit the man s right shoulder on the packed muscle under the shoulder blade-- like solid rock, for all the effect one saw. Odysseus only shook his head, containing thoughts of bloody work, as he walked on,

20 19 then sat, and dropped his loaded bag again upon the door sill. ( ) In his previous experiences, on his journey home, when Odysseus was threatened he chose to answer with violence. However, he handles this situation by restraining himself until he has the opportunity to act with the will of the immortals. His choice to restrain himself from violence portrays his changed opinion on acting violently. After Odysseus kills all the suitors in his home, he makes a remark to Eurýkleia that contrasts his previous actions with the Kyklops and demonstrates the change in his view of violence: No crowing aloud, old woman. To glory over slain men is no piety. Destiny and the gods will vanquished these, and their own hardness. They respected no one, good or bad, who came their way. For this, and folly, a bad end befell them.( ) Even though Odysseus chose to act violently and murder the suitors, he admits that to find glory in the harming of other mortals is not acceptable by immortal standards. This is opposite of how he felt when he blinded and taunted the Kyklops in the beginning of his journey. When he encountered the Kyklops he felt a need for glory through his violent acts, but after slaying the suitors he disapproves of finding any glory in what he has done. This change in character shows a disapproval for violence and a promotion of peace, similarly to what Hesiod says in his Works and Days. Even though Odysseus still acted violently despite what he says about not finding glory in what he has done, his admittance of his actions being a result of the immortals will would not contradict Hesiod. Hesiod

21 20 would find the punishment of the suitors well deserved. He is aware of the immortals and how they judge mortals: For close at hand among men there are immortals taking note of all those who afflict each other with crooked judgments, heedless of the gods punishment (44). According to Hesiod, the suitors would be punished because of the unjust acts they have committed against other mortals; however their punishment would not be determined by another mortal but by an immortal, Zeus: With that man Zeus himself is indignant, and in the end he imposes a harsh return for his unrighteous actions (46). In this case, Odysseus killing of the suitors can be seen as an act of the immortals against the unjust which agrees with Hesiod s own statement about the just punishment of mortals. The Works and Days and the Odyssey both show a preference for peace over violence and, if the basis for Hesiod s victory in the poetry contest was the message behind his prose, it is unfair to discount Homer for the same reason. The Odyssey actually promotes peace differently than Hesiod by appealing to the emotional side of a person as well as the rational side. Hesiod s Works and Days gives a set of observations and advice that only accounts for a person s reason, but because the Odyssey follows a human character, Odysseus, the story can provide an account of both emotion and reason when addressing the importance of peace over violence. Because people contain both emotion and reason, the Odyssey succeeds in a way the Works and Days does not by accounting for both the emotional and rational sides of a person. The Works and Days and the Odyssey both have commonalities in their promotion of peace and the immortals disapproval of violence, however the way that they are presented differ in their abilities to appeal to the two different sides of a person.

22 21 Bibliography Hesiod, Works and Days, translated by M.L. West, Oxford University Press, 1988 Homer, Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., 1998