Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Sense of Adventure

Edith Hamilton (1868-1963), in her magnificent book, Mythology (1942), writes of the Quest of the Golden Fleece. To obtain that prize, Jason would have to man his ship, the Argo, with the best and brightest of Greece. Hera, Queen of Olympus, helped Jason gain their enthusiastic support. In one priceless sentence, Edith describes how Hera did so: she kindled in each one the desire not to be left behind nursing a life without peril by his mother's side, but even at the price of death to drink with his comrades the peerless elixir of life (p. 163).