"Once again, Nestor, the best speech of all. Father Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, give me Ten such counsellors, and Priam's city Would lay her head in our lap, taken and ravaged. But Zeus, son of Cronus, has given me grief, Embroiling me in pointless quarrels. Yes, Achilles and I argued over a girl, And it was I who grew angry first. If we two could agree, there would not be The slightest postponement of evil for Troy. But go eat now, so we can get this battle together. Sharpen your spears and dress your shields, Lay out fodder for your horses, And inspect your chariots. We're going to war. We're going to fight all day and hate every minute Without any breaks until it's too dark to see. It's going to be chests sweating under shield straps, Hands sore from gripping spears, horses sweaty From pulling us around in our polished cars. And if I catch anyone even thinking about Staying out of the fight back here with the ships, The dogs and birds will have him by nightfall." - Iliad by Homer Did someone take your partner? No problem, go to war. In the 750 B.C. epic poem “Iliad”, by the Greek poet Homer, the Trojans and Greeks fight in a 10-year battle after Helen, wife of the Greek king Menelaus, runs off with prince Paris, son of the Trojan king, to the city of Troy. King Menelaus asks his brother Agamemnon for help in retrieving his wife from Troy, which takes 10 years to complete. Agamemnon agrees and puts together an army of Greek men for a coalition against Troy. Eventually, the Greeks win the war, but at this point in the excerpt, it has come to a standstill. The author portrays the relationship between men and masculinity through Helen running off to Troy with another man, therefore emasculating the Greek king and causing him to then validate his strength through his brother. In the first section of the excerpt (“Once again…evil for Troy.”), Agamemnon begins his speech that pertains to the war against Troy. An example of masculinity and gender roles at play is when Agamemnon addresses Troy as "her." The city is seen as feminine and needs to be taken over by the Greeks to relay their violent nature as men. Capturing the city would mean Troy becoming theirs, which reflects a docile characterization. Afterward, they would bring violence to those who ‘took’ her. And to “her” herself, as they use the word “ravage” in a way to describe the violence like rape and pillage they will cause to Troy. In the last sentence of the section, Agamemnon refers to his fight with Achilles as “over a girl,” and if they had not been ‘thinking’, they would be acting as men do and continue acting on the overall goal at hand. Furthermore, in the next section ("But go eat now…We're going to war.”), Agamemnon is rallying his soldiers to continue their now 10-year war and finish what they started. He begins to list what the men must do to prepare for what is to come and lets them know it will be ugly. This plays into the reckless masculine role as he is willing to have his men fight tough battles to prove a point and enforce that the Greeks are indeed strong and will not have their possession (Helen) taken from them, although this belief revokes her freedoms as a person since they automatically assume she was taken rather than she had willingly left to Troy with another man. Finally, with the phrase “We’re going to war," Agamemnon fully contextualizes the violence that is to come in the Trojan War and the mental strength the Greek army will need to defeat the army in Troy. Lastly, in the final section (“We’re going to…have him by nightfall.”), Agamemnon addresses bravery and cowardice directly to the soldiers and how some of their actions can be seen as unmanly. He begins to describe further what the actual fight will entail, allowing them to understand that the only thing helping them is determination and mental strength, as the Greek army will hate “every minute” and suffer without "breaks." He states they need to be as manly as possible and even stay away from the feminine, “thinking” instead of acting. The act of hesitating for a second is seen as weak and therefore not masculine, causing the Greek army to stray away from their strong image. The final sentence of the excerpt reinforces the idea of fighting and being completely involved, and should the men decide to stay back with the ships, they will be killed in simple terms. This not only puts the soldiers between a rock and a hard place but also plays into irony, as Achilles (the Greek army's best warrior) had not been participating in the war due to disagreement with Agamemnon, and he faced no consequences. In the end, the Greeks ultimately win the war against the Trojans when they hide in the infamous wooden Trojan horse and storm the city of Troy. Homer illustrates the masculinity men battle with through Agamemnon’s speech to his soldiers. The idea throughout reinstates how men should show their strength and not allow themselves to be made a fool by other men. In fighting the war, they overcompensate by damaging Troy to prove they will not be emasculated.