Ancient Greek
Homer
c. 8th century BC
“No one can hurry me down to Hades before my time, but if a man's hour is come, be he brave or be he coward, there is no escape for him when he has once been born.”
Homer stands at the head of the Western literary tradition. The and the show courage, honor, fate, and the cost of war through particular men and women under pressure, without abstract argument. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and Penelope give later ages their first durable images of heroism, homecoming, and the gods' share in human affairs. The poems teach by scene and speech. Philosophers will ask what courage and justice are. Homer shows them first in action, long before the schools begin.
In the Conversation
6 of the Great Ideas
Ethics
Virtue and Vice
Virtue is heroic excellence: the martial prowess, honor, and loyalty that make one worthy of glory.
Courage
Courage is the warrior's glory, tested in battle and inseparable from the pursuit of honor.
Honor
Honor is the warrior's supreme good: the public recognition of worth that makes life meaningful and death bearable.