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ANCIENT HEROES AND PERILOUS JOURNEYS
SKIES AND SOULS
An Introduction to the NJCL Theme Section
Every year , the NJCL provides a quote to inspire students of the classics . This year , the quote comes from Homer ' s Epistles 1.11 and roughly translates to " They who rush across the sea change their sky , not their soul ." From a modern perspective , it ' s a nice quote from Homer , but how does it show up elsewhere in the classics ? This section of The Forum will center around the topic of ancient heroes ( and maybe some real historical figures ) who exemplify the NJCL quote through their soul-changing journeys . Hope you enjoy !
“ OF THE MANY THINGS HIDDEN FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN , NOTHING IS MORE UNINTELLIGIBLE THAN THE HUMAN HEART .”
MORE THAN A JOURNEY
The Odyssey ' s Contributions to Modern English
Today , the Odyssey is responsible for two modern idioms . The first , “ Opening the bag of Aeolus ” is similar to “ letting the cat out of the bag ”. It stems from when Odysseus and his men are given a bag of unfavorable winds by the wind keeper , Aeolus . Odysseus and his men mistakenly open the bag and are blown way off course .
The second idiom , “ steering a course between Scylla and Charybdis ” commemorates Odysseus ’ s cleverness . Meaning “ chose the lesser of two evils ,” it refers to how Odysseus had to steer his ship between Scylla , a man-eating monster on a cliff , and Charybdis , a whirlpool monster . Odysseus chose to steer closer to Scylla , sacrificing a few men but saving his ship . ( The cover image of this newsletter depicts Scylla and Odysseus ' s ship ).
~ Homer , The Odyssey