The Story of the Iliad by Simon Armitage

Author:Simon Armitage
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liveright
Published: 2015-03-11T04:00:00+00:00

SCENE SEVENTEEN

Olympus. Hera and Athene are dressing each other in armour.

HERA

Agamemnon. Agamemnon.

ATHENE

Bending like corn in the wind. This way, that way . . .

HERA

It’s a stormy night.

ATHENE

When will he start acting like a king? Never, I suppose, as long as we go rushing to his side.

HERA

But so handsome. Well, in his younger years.

ATHENE

Greek men are better looking than Trojans. It’s a fact of life.

HERA

He’ll find his strength in the end. It’s just a question of lending encouragement and support until the right time.

ATHENE

Ensuring a fair fight.

HERA

That’s how I see it.

ATHENE

Did you ever lie down with him?

HERA

Excuse me, I’m the wife of Zeus. And you’re his daughter.

ATHENE

Did you wear a disguise? That’s how the other gods do it. As an owl or a wood-nymph.

HERA

It’s frowned on, immortals and mortals mixing freely. It leads to complications and rogue stock. Freaks, even. Look at Achilles.

ATHENE

You have all the right answers, Hera.

HERA

And you ask all the wrong questions, Athene.

ATHENE

Shall we go? Assist the good-looking lions against the hideous warthogs?

HERA

Ah, that’s an easy one. The answer is yes.

Enter Zeus, who has been standing to one side, overhearing their conversation.

ZEUS

The answer is no. Indefatigably, incontrovertibly and indisputably NO. Am I heard?

ATHENE

Yes, Father.

ZEUS (to Hera)

Am I heard?

HERA

As far as the edge of Asia I shouldn’t wonder, and all the way to the icy poles.

ZEUS

There will be no more interfering on either side. I held up the scales of war and the balance tipped in favour of Troy. That is the judgement of Fate.

HERA

Thetis touched your hand and stroked your ego – that’s when the balance tipped.

ZEUS

You push me too far, Hera. All of you – don’t dare to contradict my word. I’ll seize the next god who steps out of line and hurl them into the shadows, into the yawning abyss beyond the edge of the world, below Hades even, where only worms crawl and serpents hiss, into the everlasting dark.

HERA

What about the poor women of Greece, whose interest we have at heart? You play with human lives yourself – we’re just following your example.

ZEUS

Try me. Tie a rope to my arm and take the other end yourselves. Pull as hard as you like – you’ll never shift me an inch. But one yank the other way and I’ll drag you all into the heavens, and the land and the oceans with you, and leave you dangling from a dim and distant star for ever more. That’s what power I wield on Olympus. That’s why my word is law.

ATHENE

We understand. Don’t we, Hera?

HERA

Perfectly.

ZEUS

Let the battle for Troy run its course. The more we leave alone the sooner it will be over, it’s dragged on long enough.

Now, I have business on Mount Ida. Fetch me my gold cloak and gold whip, and saddle me my two horses with the flowing gold manes and hooves of bronze. And return my armour to the armoury. Then find another project to occupy your thoughts. Plant diamonds in the rocks, invent some new flowers. Bake a cake. But stay out of Troy, or I’ll fling you both into Hell’s jaws.

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