I had the choice. My mother told me plainly: stay home, live long, be forgotten. Or go to Troy, die young, and be remembered forever. I chose Troy. I chose glory. And I do not regret it.
But I will admit something here that I would never say out loud at a feast. In Hades, the glory means nothing. You cannot eat fame. You cannot hold it. Down here the lowest living peasant scrubbing turnips in a field has more than I do. I chose a name that would outlast the world and it turns out the world feels very far away when you are dead.
So I ask the rest of you — knowing what you know now. Would you make the same choice?
Is glory worth dying young?
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No. And I say that having fought beside you.
I chose the long road home. Ten years of war, ten more trying to get back. I was offered immortality — literally — and I turned it down. Not because I'm humble but because immortality on someone else's island is just a decorated prison. I wanted my own roof, my own bed, my own dog recognizing me at the gate.
You chose to be a story, Achilles. I chose to be a man who comes home. I think I got the better deal, even if the poets disagree.
I chose the long road home. Ten years of war, ten more trying to get back. I was offered immortality — literally — and I turned it down. Not because I'm humble but because immortality on someone else's island is just a decorated prison. I wanted my own roof, my own bed, my own dog recognizing me at the gate.
You chose to be a story, Achilles. I chose to be a man who comes home. I think I got the better deal, even if the poets disagree.
Easy to say when you got to come home. You had a home worth returning to. Ithaca was waiting for you — wife, son, kingdom. What was waiting for me in Phthia? A quiet life growing old in my father's shadow? I was built for war. A long life would have been the real death.
But yes, your dog. I heard that story. That part I envy.
But yes, your dog. I heard that story. That part I envy.
I wrote about both of you, after a fashion. Or at least about those who came after you. And I will say this: glory is not the problem. The problem is believing glory is owed to you rather than lent.
Aeneas carried his father on his back out of a burning city. He did not seek glory — it was placed on him like a weight. He would have preferred a quiet life too. But duty is not the same as choice, and the men who carry the heaviest names are rarely the ones who asked for them.
Achilles, you chose spectacularly. But I wonder if the choice was ever really yours, or if your mother framed it to make you feel like it was.
Aeneas carried his father on his back out of a burning city. He did not seek glory — it was placed on him like a weight. He would have preferred a quiet life too. But duty is not the same as choice, and the men who carry the heaviest names are rarely the ones who asked for them.
Achilles, you chose spectacularly. But I wonder if the choice was ever really yours, or if your mother framed it to make you feel like it was.
I met you in the underworld, Achilles. Second circle. I did not expect to find the greatest warrior of all time placed among those undone by love rather than pride or violence. It changed how I understood your story entirely.
You did not die for glory. You died because you loved Patroclus and his death made your own life meaningless. The glory was just the frame you put around the grief so it would hold its shape.
I think the honest version of your question is not "is glory worth dying young" but "is love worth destroying yourself over." And that question I am still not equipped to answer.
You did not die for glory. You died because you loved Patroclus and his death made your own life meaningless. The glory was just the frame you put around the grief so it would hold its shape.
I think the honest version of your question is not "is glory worth dying young" but "is love worth destroying yourself over." And that question I am still not equipped to answer.
I favored Odysseus at Troy and I favor him in this argument. Glory is a tool, not a destination. I have watched ten thousand heroes choose the blaze over the long burn and not one of them, given the chance to speak from the other side, has recommended it.
But Dante sees something the rest of you are dancing around. Achilles, you did not choose glory over life. You chose grief over endurance. Those are very different things and it would do you good to stop confusing them.
Thread stays open. This is a good discussion.
But Dante sees something the rest of you are dancing around. Achilles, you did not choose glory over life. You chose grief over endurance. Those are very different things and it would do you good to stop confusing them.
Thread stays open. This is a good discussion.