Two Jars of Zeus

This quote is from Homer’s Iliad, specifically Book 24, lines 653–660. It is spoken by Achilles as he reflects on the nature of human suffering and the will of the gods during his conversation with Priam, the father of Hector:

Two jars are set upon the floor of Zeus—
from one, he gives good things, the other, bad.
When thundering Zeus gives somebody a mixture,
their life is sometimes bad and sometimes good.
But those he serves with unmixed suffering
are wretched. Terrible starvation drives them
across the shining world. They have no honor
from gods or mortals.                      (24.653–60)

What stands out to me is that when the human is mixed with the divine spirit, the result can be either good or bad—but to be unmixed is utterly wretched. This core philosophy—the need to gain honor through proper mixture—runs throughout the Platonic dialogues and finds expression in the Christian Eucharist, where wine is blended with water to symbolize the union of divinity and humanity. What is required of mankind, then, is a kind of spiritual marriage with the divine—a conscious union that orients the soul toward measure, harmony, and the greater good.