The Gods Envy Us

"Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her,  alone, shall come fulfillment to our dreams and our desires." - Wallace Stevens

Dr. Sexson spoke this line earlier in the semester, but hearing it again today made me remember something.

A few years ago when I was still in high school, I had quite the obsession with the movie Troy. Not because of Brad Pitt as Achilles, or Eric Bana as Hector, but because of a love story with a line that I never forgot.

Wolfgang Petersen's own take on the Trojan War doesn't follow Homer's Illiad completely - rather, he tells the story with some changes and variations (our favorite thing in class). The change that I loved so much was the relationship between Achilles and Briseis, which is completely different than the actual story. I don't even think her name is Briseis, or that she meant anything at all, but I loved this version of the story; the strong warrior who finds peace and love through the strong-willed (I do love strong heroines!) priestess. Forget Paris and Helen.

The scene that struck me takes place after Achilles has "saved" her - again, struggling with the "I want to be a strong independent woman, but MAN I love chivalry" complex that I have - and takes her back to the tent and feeds her, gives her water to wash her wounds, etc. She's a priestess, and what follows is this conversation, which I love so much:

Achilles: You dedicated your life to the gods; Zeus god of thunder, Athena goddess of wisdom – you serve them?

Briseis: Yes of course.

Achilles: And Aries god of war, who blankets his bed with the skin of men he's killed?

Briseis: All the gods are to be feared and respected.

And then this line, which has stuck with me:

Achilles: I'll tell you a secret, something they don't teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now, and we will never be here again.

Death as something beautiful, once we come to know it, once we see it that way. Tragically beautiful. If it wasn't, would so many of the greats written about it, and would we still be fascinated by it today?

I love quotes that stick with you for reasons you yourself sometimes can't explain.