Honor games are competitive, but the competition is always qualified by the mutual need of honor-seekers. Achilles wants to be the hero of the battle, and that means that Diomedes cannot be. But Achilles’s honor exists only in the respectful regard of other heroes like Diomedes. Honor-seekers can’t consistently wish for the destruction of all rivals, for the destruction of all rivals is also the destruction of honor. Ancient heroes play for keeps, but they are always conscious that even the most bitter enemies are members of the same club.
Enter the woman, and the dynamics change completely. Now the only regard that matters is the regard of the lady, and while it might add to the victor’s delight for the rival to envy the victor’s victory, it’s not essential to the victory. It doesn’t matter whether the rival survives or not. The only thing needful is the love of the lady. Honor is not exactly a zero-sum game; romance is. It’s a winner-take-all game, because there is only one lady.
Chivalry, where the hero battles for the love, is more, not less violent, than ancient honor, where the hero battles for glory.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
