leaders - rightly anticipate human emotions

8/8/2019 Leaders - Rightly Anticipate Human Emotions

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Leaders

Rightly Anticipate Human Emotions

GRK Murty


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Homer advocates that every man should aim at winning over his

own base instincts for, it would reward him with a life of

fulfillment and in the case of a leader, it would ensure ardentfollowership.

Homer, with his Iliad, is said to have reached Olympian eminence in

recording reality as seen through his vision. At least that is what one

tends to infer on reading about Achilles in Iliad. One wonders if

mankind has materially changed in the last three thousand years after

what Homer has described about the general structure of society, the

relations of men and women to one another, and even the physical

circumstances of their existence.

The plot of Iliad is simple. King Agamemnon, the overlord of Greece

(Homers Achaea), induces all those princes who are in allegiance with

him to fight against King Priam of Troy, since one of his sons runs away

with his brother, Menelauss wifethe beautiful Helen of Argos.

The Greek forces camp beside their ships on the shore near Troy. For

the last nine years, they have been fighting under the dashing

leadership of Achilles. Yet, they could not bring the war to a conclusion.


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They could, however, capture and loot a number of villages in the

Trojan territory.

But this successful looting leads to a feud between Achilles and his

commander-in-chief. Agamemnon had been allotted the girl, Chryseis,

as his prize. Her father, a local priest of Apollo, approaches the Achaean

camp requesting them to release her by accepting a ransom. But

Agamemnon refuses to give her up. Instead, he heaps insult on the

priest. The priest then prays to his god. As a result, a plague results in

the Greece camp. Giving in to the public feeling, Agamemnon releases

the girl to propitiate the angry god.

Agamemnon, however, compensates himself by confiscating one of

Achilles own prizes, a girl called Briseis. This makes Achilles withdraw

from the battle along with his force.

After an abortive truce, the two armies again meet. Taking advantage

of Achilles absence from the battle, Hector, the Trojan commander-in-

chief, who had hitherto been penned up in Troy in its defense, succeeds

in setting fire to one of the Greece ships.

At this, Achilles at last yields to the entreaties and allows Patroclus,

his bosom comrade, to lead the Myrmidon force to rescue the


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Achaeans. Patroclus succeeds in the mission. But, as he goes too far

into Troy, he gets killed by Hector.

This disaster makes Achilles reconcile himself with Agamemnon and

take to the battle. Overtaken by his grief at the loss of Patroclus, he

drives the Trojans into their town. Finally, he kills Hector. His revenge is

so intenseowing to his intense grief at the loss of his friend and the

resulting injury to his self-esteemthat he savagely ill-treats the body

of the fallen enemy.

Inspired by the gods, King Priam, father of Hector, visits Achilles in his

camp by night to plead for his sons body. Achilles relents: the play thus

ends with an uneasy truce for the funeral of Hector.

In this simple framework, Homer weaves certain episodesgrand,

austere, rugged, poignantwhich reflect the Homeric way of thought.

One such episode is found in Book XXIV, where the true greatness of

Achilles that lay concealed all along surfaces. In it, helped by gods, King

Priam, father of Hector, reaches Achilles and prays: Most worship-full

Achilles, / show deference to the gods / and pity for myself,

remembering / your own father and release the body of Hector for

proper funeral.


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In all earnestness to accomplish the mission, King Priam further

appeals: Of the two old men, / Im more pitiful, because I have

endured / what no living mortal on this earth has borne/ Ive lifted to

my lips and kissed / the hands of the man who killed my son. Can such

a poetic and poignant questioning that penetrates any listeners

consciousness go unheeded? No wonder it makes Achilles think of his

father, which brings him to the verge of tears. As Achilles, taking the old

mans hand, gently keeps it away from him, Priam, crouching at

Achilles feet, bitterly prays for Hector, while Achilles weeps for his

father and later again for Patroclus. The house echoes with their

lamentation.

As Achilles recovers his composure, he leaps from his chair and in

compassion for the old mans gray head and beard, takes him by the

arm and raises him saying: You unhappy man, / your hearts had to

endure so many evils. / How could you dare come to the Achaeas

ships, / and come alone, to rest your eyes on me, / when Ive killed so

many noble sons of yours? / You must have a heart of iron, and

requests him to be seated on the chair. Then he goes on to say:

Though were both feeling pain, / well let our grief lie quiet on our

hearts. / For theres no benefit in frigid tears. / Thats the way the gods

have spun the threads / for wretched mortal men, so they live in pain.


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Such is the impact of the words spoken by King Priam on Achilles who,

earlier in his wrathin un-philosophical sophistication pined for a

thousand assuagements, demanding novelties, excitements,

distractions, agreeable shocks, tributes to his vanity, and a thousand

sweet morsels for the palate of his insatiable egoism ties the body of

Hector to his chariot and savagely hauls it three times round Patroclus

barrow. That is Homers understanding ofhuman naturethe sublimity

that delivers a man from that accursed habit of taking the essentials of

life for granted which cheapens, debases, and vulgarizes all, and steals

from the heart the very mystery of being alivea lesson to be

internalized by every aspiring leader for success.

The venerable Priam then pleads: Dont make me sit down on a

chair, my lord, / while Hector lies uncared for in your huts. / But quickly

give him back, so my own eyes / can see him. And take the enormous

ransom / weve brought here for you. May it give you joy. / And may

you get back to your native land, / since youve now let me live to see

the sunlight.

Achilles, frowning at him, says swiftly, Old man, dont provoke me. I

myself intend to give you Hector. Zeus sent me here a messenger.

Otherwise, no matter how young and strong, no living man would dare

to make the trip to our encampment. So dont agitate my grieving heart


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still more. Or, I might not spare even you, old man, though youre a

suppliant in my hut. I could transgress what Zeus has ordered.

This reprimand frightens the old man. Then Achilles, like a lion,

dashes out of doors with his two favorite aides. He calls some women

servants and tells them to wash and anoint Hectors body in another

part of the house so that Priam will not see his sons body, for Achilles

is afraid that the heart-stricken old man, at the sight of his sons corpse,

might be unable to contain his wrath, and that his own spirit might then

get so aroused that he could kill Priam, disobeying Zeus orders. This is

another testimony to Homers understanding of human emotions.

Achilles foresees the possible reaction of King Priam and in turn his own

likely response to it with a clinical precision and accordingly executes

the needful in such way that it affords a noble relief sans the vulgarity,

the triviality, the litter and debris of the transitory and the unessential

to all concerned. This is no doubt an example of exalted leadership

displayed by the same Achilles who, while handling Hectors body, was

at the height of savagery. The episode displays how ambiguous

leadership ismoving from the depths of depravity to the heights of

nobilityand how dexterous a leader needs to be in the handling of

right and wrong.


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As the women servants anointed the body with olive oil and wrapped

it in a fine mantel and tunic, Achilles lifts it with his own hands on to a

bier, and as his comrades help keeps it in the wagon. In a groan, he

then addresses his beloved friend: O Patroclus, / dont be angry with

me, if you learn, / even in Hades house, that I gave back / godlike

Hector to his dear father. / Hes brought to me a fitting ransom. / Ill be

giving you your full share of it, / as is appropriate. Here again, Achilles

exhibits simultaneously his respect for the dead Hector by placing his

body on the bier by himself and to his departed friend, Patroclus. This

terrific scene woven by Homer, portrays moments of radiant

exaltationin it we witness a solemn quiet, of fate accepted, of life not

exuberantly commanded but taken for what it is, grim and pitiful, with

its own strange, sad beauty, and at least able to be justified an

incredible tale, the spirit of which every leader worth his salt must

internalize.

Then Achilles walks into the hut saying, Old man, your son has been

given back, / as you requested. Hes lying on a bier. / Youll see him for

yourself at day break, / when you take him. We should think of eating. /

Even fair-haired Niobe remembered food, / with twelve of her own

children murdered in her home, / her six young daughters and her six

strong sons. So, my royal Lord, let us two also think of food. Then as


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Achilles attendants fetch bread and meat, they help themselves to the

good things spread before them.

Once their thirst and hunger is satisfied, they look at each other with

admiration. Then King Priam begs to retire for the night. Thereupon

Achilles instructs maids to put the bedsteads in the portico. He then

tells Priam: you must sleep outdoors, my friend, in case some Achaean

general pays me a visit your recovery of the body will be delayed. He

also enquires: tell meand speak truthfully / how many days do

you require to bury / godlike Hector, so I can stop that long / and keep

the troops in check? The venerable king then replies: If you really

wish me to give Prince Hector a proper funeral, you will put me under

an obligation, Achilles, by doing as you say. We should be mourning him

for nine days in home, on the tenth day we shall bury him and hold the

funeral feast, and on the eleventh day build him a mound. On the

twelfth, if need be, we will fight.

Saying, All right, old Priam, things will be arranged / as you request.

Ill suspend the fighting / for the length of time youve asked for,

Achilles takes the old mans wrist on his right hand, to banish all

apprehensions from his heart.


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Through the whole episode of King Priams interaction with Achilles,

Homer establishes the magic of words in bringing the much desired

healing that totally evades definition. It is under the touch of this magic,

a great quiet descends upon Achilles and he grows ashamed of his

turbulence, his hurry, his ignoble self-pity, his insatiable discontent and

perhaps hearing the voice of his personal wrongs, he emerges as a

savior full of tender expressions of an almost religious solemnity. That

is great leadership indeed!

Homer, through his great Achilles, also shows the necessity of a great

leader to rise above meanness and inhumanity and deliver quietness

even to an enemy when the issue at stake is mans humanity to man.

It is of course a different matter here that this recognition in Achilles is

brought about partly by divine interventiondeus ex machina and

partly by a powerful appeal to his filial emotions.

But what is more important to grasp from the whole episode is:

however mighty the leader may be, digressing the basic tenets of

humanity could be disastrous in modern terms, lead to unpredictable

consequences. Now, can todays leaders afford to ignore Homers

prescription?

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leaders - rightly anticipate human emotions

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