This thought, though voiced differently, is shared by both Hector and Achilles in Homer's The Iliad. These two men, from opposite sides of the battle lines, are each considered heroes by their respective armies. Both Hector and Achilles are brave, strong, and accustomed to war, yet the real measure of heroism, according to the heroic code, lies not just in doing battle,but in their willingness to risk their lives for the greater good of their people, regardless of their individual desires. Hector and Achilles are each concerned with honor, but while Hector pursues honor at all costs, Achilles wants honor only on his terms. It is this difference that identifies the real hero.
Hector is a strong man, brave in war and honorable in conviction. He is considered to be the "lone defense of Troy" (VI, 197), but he is not a man of war. Hector is a man of peace, doing what he thinks is best, even while knowing the eventual outcome. All his actions while in Troy confirm this. When offered some wine, he is concerned with the possibility that he might "lose the nerve for war" (VI, 33). He is kind to Helen, over whom his city is besieged, and above all, he loves his family and worries about their welfare, even in battle. He is frightened of what awaits his family, and to a lesser extent, Troy, should he be killed. He tells his wife that "it is less the pain of the Trojans still to come/ that weighs me down . . . That is nothing, nothing beside your agony" (VI, 253-54). Even so, when Andromache begs him to "make [his] stand on the rampart" (VI, 230), Hector tells her that "he would die of shame to face the men of Troy . . . if [he] would shrink from battle now, a coward" (VI, 242-44).
Achilles is also strong and brave. Nearly invincible, due to
the waters of the River Styx, Achilles is a man of war -- first,
last, and always. Agamemnon calls him "the most violent man alive"
(I, 172), and he is considered to be "worth an entire army" (IX,
140). Yet with his strength and invincibility, Achilles, in direct
contrast with Hector, uses peace (emphasis added) as a weapon
against Agamemnon, whom he hates "like the very Gates of Death" (IX,
378). Achilles vows never to join forces with Agamemnon and is
willing to sit out the battle as punishment when one of the women he
won in war is taken from him. Later, when Agamemnon offers to return
the woman, along with additional treasure in apology, Achilles
refuses. In rejecting this accepted method of compensation, Achilles
places his individual animosities to war Agamemnon above the needs of
his troops, thereby rejecting a major tenet of the heroic code. As
Achilles says
What do I need with honor such as that?" (IX, 745).
The heroic code that governed Hector and Achilles continues to affect men in modern cultures. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when men throughout the United States opted to leave this country rather than fight a war they thought unjust; they were vilified for their assumed cowardice. Thirty years later these protesters of the Vietnam War have been vindicated and recognized as far-seeing.