It is not reason that gives us our moral principles; it is habit, custom, the slow deposit of human experience. Reason comes after, to justify or to criticize what instinct and tradition have already established.
For a start, the Odyssey was the first time a hero in Western culture was celebrated for smarts and cunning—and not just fighting and violence. It was as if Homer had grown up after creating the Iliad (in which 239 characters, identified by name, meet their death), and decided to tell a more civilized tale.
3mo ago
Underscored — save the words that stop you in your tracks.
