richard martin's notes for the iliad again pointing out something i hadn't really reflected on: it would be so EASY for the poet of the iliad to denigrate euphorbus as he dies, to paint him as cowardly or ugly, to display glee for the death of the man who took part in the killing of patroclus ("the first of his killers" as patroclus might say). but euphorbus' death at the hands of menelaus is beautiful and tragic too!
we learn how euphorbus is the pride of his mother and father, that he still grieves for his dead brother who was killed by menelaus, and in a simile he's a pale tree that's blossomed into beauty. when he falls, his hair, which is braided with gold and silver and "beautiful like the Graces", is spattered with blood and dirt and that's how he dies. the world has just a little less beauty in it than before.
the brother's death is tragic the way patroclus' death is tragic the way euphorbus' death is tragic. it all flows together. they're all killed in retaliation for the people they've killed, and that's how the war has been playing out for ten long years at that point.
