Jove and Eagles

51.1 Jove: "If I see anyone acting apart and helping either Trojans or Danaans he shall be beaten inordinately ere he come back again to Olympus"

First, I have to say that the threat of 'inordinate beatings' is humorous to me.

Second, my first thought about the meaning of this passage was completely wrong. I thought "Hey, that's interesting. Jove is acting as the least partial of the gods. At least there is some order up there." Unfortunately what is really meant by this passage bears itself out in the following pages. Jove wreaks havoc on the Achaeans that day. He really just wanted the playing field to himself. Even worse, he, being the most powerful of the gods and able to command the rest, is the most fickle in his favors.

Jove's shows his unfaithfulness later that same day when Agamemnon pleads with him to spare the Achaean ships.
53.5 "Thus did he pray, and father Jove pitying his tears vouchsafed him that his people should live, not die; forthwith he sent them an eagle, most unfailingly portentous of all birds , with a young fawn in its talons."

Again we see that you can buy off the gods as long as you sacrifice regularly. Also, that is one huge bird.

Paris the Warrior?

Edit: I forgot to mention that Menelaus was the king of the Spartans. Remember Thermopylae? Yeah, those Spartans.

45.4 "'My good brother' answered Hector 'you fight bravely, and no man with any justice can make light of your doings in battle. But you are careless and willfully remiss.'"

It seems that, despite his flaws, Paris was actually a good warrior. He may not have been able to stand up to Menelaus, but Menelaus was one of the best. Yet another reason why Troy is a bad movie.

Confusions

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Greek morality and mentality, or mores, are very strange to both the Christian and the American way of thinking. Sometimes this difference amounts to no great significance, such as the lengthy and seemingly unnecessary genealogies in Book 2. Homer spends nearly half the book describing who was at Troy and who their ancestors were. The only other place I can think of this occurring is in the Bible, but the Israelites had very good reason to keep track of genealogy. I really do not understand why he would spend so much time on this and how it could possibly be of interest to the people listening to the poem being sung.

Another, much more striking difference is exhibited in the description of a battle scene.

The Trojans and Achaeans had struck a temporary truce and had sworn to Zeus that they would not fight or kill each other. During this lull, some Trojan took it upon himself to shoot Menelaus. This was an act of treachery and deceit and it broke an oath to the highest god. However, the Achaean response is [26.1] "Some Trojan or Lycean archer has wounded him with an arrow to our dismay and his own great glory."

Apparently glory has nothing to do with honor, piety or justice. It would be like saying that John Wilkes Booth has great glory. Infamy, yes; glory, no. I wonder if Homeric Greek has a word for infamy or if there is simply no distinction between good and bad fame.