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chapter four www The Introductory Pattern The Best of the Akhaians Calls an Assembly Chapters 1–3 established and analyzed the Iliad’s principal narrative pattern as it underlies books 4–7 and 20–24, how book 3 provides a miniature preview of it, and how books 8, 11–17 offer it in an inverted form. We now consider those books that begin the three sequences. Books 1–2, 9–10, and 18–19, share a number of parallels. Thetis appears only in books 1 and 18, and her crucial prophecy is articulated in 9; Hephaistos also appears only in 1 and 18. Parallels have long been noted between books 2 and 10: their nighttime settings, the unheroic charactersThersites and Dolon, the prominence of Odysseus, and his triumph over both figures. The assembly in book 19 appears to answer that in book 1, while the council in 9 attempts to do so but fails. Odysseus performs diplomatic missions, leads delegations, and restores order at assemblies in these same books. Nestor is also prominent in these same contexts (though both characters appear in other books as well). Two of the Iliad’s three most important marshaling scenes occur in 2 and 19.1 Books 1, 9, and 18 serve both as Akhilleus’ main entrances and exits, and the occasions for his most important decisions. He meets with Athena and Iris in books 1 and 18. An introductory pattern underlies each pair of books, as the principal narrative pattern underlies the remainder of the poem. We analyze the introductory pattern separately because it functions separately. Only in these books is Akhilleus onstage in all three sequences. After these books (1–2, 9–10), he remains offstage in most of the first two sequences. The opening sequence further marks off the introductory pattern by interposing book 3, separating books 1–2 from books 4–7 of the principal narrative pattern. In the middle sequence books 9–10 come after book 8, which instead first offers an overture for that sequence. The telos or goal of the introductory pattern is to assemble the army and, following a marshaling scene, send it off to do battle, led by the best of the Akhaians. Each of the three sequences, however, has a different way of arriving at this objective, offering considerable variety, just as each sequence of the principal narrative pattern is distinct with a unique modality. In keeping with its governing tendencies, the middle sequence gives books 9–10 an inverted or parodic relation to the introductory pattern as it appears in 1–2 and 18–19. Books 18–19 employ the various motifs in very different order than do 1–2 and 9–10 because Akhilleus’ return to battle is unique, marked by unusual variations or expansions on elements common to the other sequences, but now stated in their climactic form, with greater divine involvement.2 Hephaistos’ fashioning Akhilleus’ shield is a key instance of this tendency. One section of book 18, lines 148–242, concludes the preceding episode from book 17 but ‘‘spills over’’ into the middle of book 18, further complicating this book’s intricate structure. Books 1 and 19 offer valuable parallels for addressing the notorious problem of the duals in book 9 (discussed below as motifs 5 and 6).The variations the three sequences play on the same set of underlying motifs are best seen in the different outcomes for Akhilleus.The assembly in book 1 results in Akhilleus’ withdrawal, whereas the failed embassy in 9 indirectly prompts the insertion of Patroklos.3 The assembly in 19 results in Akhilleus’ return to battle and the marshaling of the host for war, the ‘‘normal’’ result of the introductory pattern, if the quarrel with Agamemnon had not intervened. Although the order of the motifs may vary in a given sequence, due to differing needs of each sequence, the introductory pattern consists of the following motifs: 1. The best of the Akhaians calls an assembly to address a crisis that interferes with the war against the Trojans. 2. In the course of the assembly, Agamemnon’s leadership is challenged, if not preempted. 3. Agamemnon exercises reckless judgment (ate) against the best of the Akhaians. 4. Nestor attempts to restore order between the best of the Akhaians and Agamemnon. 5. Agamemnon dispatches Odysseus to lead a delegation that includes two heralds to return a companion dear to Akhilleus. 6. Akhilleus (and Patroklos) receives the delegation...

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