Day 65: Zeus and Hera Squabble

Lines 536-50
ὧς ὁ μὲν ἔνθα καθέζετ' ἐπὶ θρόνου· οὐδέ μιν Ἥρη
ἠγνοίησεν ἰδοῦσα, ὅτι οἱ συμφράσατο βουλὰς
ἀργυρόπεζα Θέτις, θυγάτηρ ἁλίοιο γέρποντος.
αὐτίκα κερτομίοισι Δία Κρονίωνα προηύδα·
τίς δὴ αὖ τοι, δολομῆτα, θεῶν συμφράσατο βουλάς;
αἰεί τοι φίλον ἐστὶν, ἐμεῦ ἀπονόσφιν ἐόντα
κρυπτάδια φρονέοντα δικαζέμεν· οὐδέ τί πώ μοι
πρόφρων τέτληηκας ἐπεῖν ἔπος, ὅττι νοήσῃς."

τὴν δ' ἠμείβετ' ἔπειτα πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε·
"Ἥρη, μὴ δὴ πάντας ἐμοὺς ἐπιέλπεο μύθους
εἰδησειν· χαλεποί τοι ἔσοντ' ἀλόχῳ περ ἑουσῃ.
ἀλλ' ὃν μέν κ' ἐπιεικὲς ακουέμεν, οὔ τις ἔπειτα
οὔτε θεῶν πρότερος τόν γ' εἴσεται οὔτ' ἀνθρώπων·
ὅν δέ κ' ἐγὼν ἀπάνευθε θεῶν ἐθέλωμι νοῆσαι,
μή τι σὺ ταῦτα ἕκαστα διείρεο μηδὲ μετάλλα."

So he then sat down upon his throne, but Hera saw,
And had not failed to notice when he plotted plans
With silver footed Thetis, daughter of the Old Man of the Sea.
Right off she spoke to Cronus' son with biting words:
"Which of the gods this time has been plotting with you,
Deceiver? Always it is dear to you when I am away,
Planning and making judgements in secret;
Neither do you take joy in any way, nor have the courage to
Speak your word to me, whatever be in your mind."

Thereupon the father of gods and men replied to her:
"Hera, do not hope to see all my thoughts;
These will be hard for you, though you be my wife.
But any thought that is fitting for you to hear:
Then not a one will know it first, neither god
Nor mortal man; and if perhaps I should desire
To plan and plot apart from the gods, then neither seek to know
Nor inquire into each and every thing that I am about."



A rather amusing scene here with Hera tormenting Zeus, and then the father of gods and men firing back that his woman should know her place. Almost like Alice and Ralph Kramden in the The Honeymooners. Pharr postulates that this burlesque show among the gods at the conclusion of the first book of the Iliad was the prototype for the satyr play that followed the tragic triliogies at the Athenian dramatic competitions of Greece's golden age. The function here is to provide a bit of comic relief after the intensity of the disastrous quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. It is a nice exposition of the balance contained in the Greek worldview. Life is a vale of tears, but there is laughter and mirth as well...