The Iliad 7.442–445

And among them Poseidon, the Shaker of Earth, was first to speak: Father Zeus, is there now anyone of mortals on the face of the boundless earth, that will any more declare to the immortals his mind and counsel? Seest thou not that now again the long-haired Achaeans have builded them a wall to defend their ships, and about it have drawn a trench,but gave not glorious hecatombs to the gods? Of a surety shall the fame thereof reach as far as the dawn spreadeth, and men will forget the wall that I and Phoebus Apollo built with toil for the warrior Laomedon. Then greatly troubled, Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, spake to him:

ὣς οἳ μὲν πονέοντο κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοί· οἳ δὲ θεοὶ πὰρ Ζηνὶ καθήμενοι ἀστεροπητῇ θηεῦντο μέγα ἔργον Ἀχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων. τοῖσι δὲ μύθων ἦρχε Ποσειδάων ἐνοσίχθων·

Lattimore commentary

Nestor’s plan arouses the competitive instinct of the sea god. It is less the alleged impiety of failing to perform foundation sacrifices that annoys Poseidon than it is the threat that the new wall will outshine his and Apollo’s building. The objection (like the Antenor-Paris exchange) appears to be a setup for Zeus’ further promise that the Greek construction will be short-lived (confirmed at 12.15–30, viewed from a time after Troy’s fall). The projection forward is a rarely used technique for setting the tragic action at Troy sub specie aeternitatis, making all human concerns look minuscule.

Read in context →