Why it is Important to Take Account of History

摘要

During a lull in the action of the epic movie, Troy, Achilles confides to Briseis his view that 'the gods envy humans their mortality'. A surprising, almost shocking, view. The Homeric epithet for Achilles is 'swift-footed'. But in this episode Achilles demonstrates that he is not only swift of foot, but also sharp of mind. He clarifies his remark by observing that Briseis will never again be as beautiful as she is that day, a fact which makes her beauty so much the more precious. Had he not been reluctant to anger a goddess, and had he the benefit of having read Christopher Marlowe's play Faustus, he might also have pointed out that Helen's was the face Faustus desired to see-the face that launched a thousand ships-not Aphrodite's, even though the goddess Aphrodite was the paradigm of beauty. And he might further have observed that the goddess's beauty is somehow diminished by the fact that it is eternal. Helen, by contrast, was a mere mortal, her beauty ephemeral and, I want to go on to claim, on that account altogether more meaningful.