Book 10: It's nighttime and the Greeks and Trojans are antsy because their camps are so near to each other. The Greeks send Odysseus and Diomed to go spy on the Trojans, and the Trojans send some guy to spy on the Greeks. The two overpower the one, pump him for information, then kill him.
I notice a trend here where the Trojans always beg for their lives (cowardly!) and ask to be taken alive because they can fetch a large ransom.
Also Zeus is on the Trojans side. Maybe this storytelling tradition is why we're often on the side of the underdogs? (Because of Zeus, not because of the life-begging.)
On a side note, Homer may be a biased storyteller.
Book 11: More fighting and death, with occasional fashion interlude. I know that the describe what the people are wearing so that the folks listening to the story (without benefit of a movie starring Brad Pitt) can imagine what they look like. But it still tickles me when the badass warriors are putting on a fashion show while getting ready to fight. (And this purple cloak is DOUBLE-thick, oh look at that skullcap! All the warriors are wearing them these days.)
Also the language is pretty descriptive at times. Like when some folks get their heads chopped off and Homer says "they are more use to vultures than to their wives now."
Harsh!
Anyway, we're not done with book 11. More on that tomorrow.
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