Wednesday 11 April 2018

Carelessly Disrespecting Your Culture - Honour Thy Father


Alexander De Large :
Why, drunken man, must you think
everything I Do and Say 
comes from My Mother?

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon: 

Because I know Her Heart, by Hera...
and I see her in your eyes.

You come at This Throne too much...

Yeah, Good Luck with That...



King Philip II 
"The One-Eye"of Macedon:
You go, boy!

You ride that horse, 
and by Zeus I Say, 
You can Rule The World.

Alexander DeLarge :
Bucephalus.
That's what I'll call you. 
Strong and stubborn.
Bucephalus and Alexander.
Come now, let's ride together.

Cleitus, The Royal Retainer
He's got some Titan in him yet.

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
Attalus! Cleitus! 
For Zeus' sake, 
he beat you, man!

Alexander :
Now, Bucephalus, show them --

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
My Son.
My Son!

*****

A Cave at Pella, Macedonia :
[ Because There's always A Cave... ]


King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
You remember Prometheus...
 who stole the secret of fire and gave it to Man.

It made Zeus so angry...
 he chained Prometheus 
to a rock in the great Caucasus...
and each day, his eagle 
pecked out the poor man's liver.

[ He wasn't 'a Man', he was a turncoat rebel Titan who sided with the Olympians in the War to overthrow Cronus and the Titanocracy ]

 Each night, it grew back again 
so that it could be eaten 
the next day.

Miserable fate.

[ The sentence was commuted by Zeus - eventually.  It wasn't an eternal punishment. ]

Oedipus -  tore out his eyes 
when he found out...
he'd murdered his father...
and married his mother. 

Knowledge that came too late.

Jason...
He went East and brought back 
The Golden Fleece...
and married A Barbarian Wife, Medea.



Later, when he left her for a younger wife...

Medea slaughtered their two children in vengeance.

Alexander :
My Mother would never hurt me.

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
It's never easy to escape Our Mothers, Alexander.

All your life, Beware of Women. 
They're far more dangerous than Men.

I'm sure you remember Achilles from Tales of Troy.

Alexander :
He's my favorite. 

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
Why?

Alexander :
Because he loved Patroclus and avenged his death.
 Because he lived without fear, and slew Hector.

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
 Some say he was a hotheaded fool...
who fought for himself and not the Greeks.

Alexander :
 But he was a hero, the greatest at Troy.

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
And his fate?

Alexander :
That he must die young but with great glory.

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
Did he have a choice?

Alexander :
Oh, yes. He could have a long life, but there would be no glory.

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
You dream of glory, Alexander. 
Your Mother Encourages you.

There's no Glory without Suffering, 
and this she will not allow.

She makes you weak.

The gods have never made it easy for man.

Look, Herakles.
Even after he accomplished his 12 labors...
he was punished with madness, slaughtered his three children.

[ actually, Hera afflicted him with the fit of madness before he embarked upon his 12 Labours, with the idea being that they were to be his pennance for murdering his wife and family (for which Greek Culture regarded him as being responsible for and bearing the burden of guilt for, in spite of his insensibility and derrangement - what came after the completion of the Twelve Labours was almost worse, Hera this time tricked his new wife into presenting him with a deadly and irremovable poisoned shirt which caused him to suffer ever-increasingly extruciating pain until he was forced to place himself in the midst of a funeral pyre to release himself from the pain - and that is the point at which Zeus finally stepped in to over-rule his wife, separated his divine spirtual essence from his earthly form (being born a demigod, by his nature), and elevated him to full godhood, having earned his place on Mount Olympus, seated by the throne of his divine Father (which his divine Step-Mother and Animus liked it or not). ] 

Poor Herakles.

Great Herakles.

All greatness comes from loss.

Even you, the gods will one day judge harshly.

Alexander: 
When I'm king like you, Father?


King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
 Don't rush the day, boy. 
You risk all.

My father threw me into battle before I knew how to fight.

When I killed my first man, he said:

"Now you know. "

I hated him then, but I understand why now.

A king isn't born, Alexander.

He's made by Steel and by Suffering.

A King must know how to hurt those he loves.

It's lonely. Ask Herakles.

Ask any of them. Fate is cruel.

No man or woman can be too powerful or too beautiful without disaster befalling.

They laugh when you rise too high and crush everything you've built with a whim.
What glory they give, in the end, they take away.

They make of us slaves.

Truth is in our hearts, 
and none will tell you this but Your Father :

Men Hate The Gods.

The only reason we worship any of them is because we fear worse.

Alexander:
What's worse?

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:

The Titans.

If they were ever to be set free...
it would be a Darkness 
such as we have 
never seen before.

Alexander :
Could They ever come back?
Can Zeus imprison he Titans forever 
under Mount Olympus?

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
It's said that when Zeus 
burned Them to dust 
with his lightning bolt...
They took the Titans' ashes 
and, in a cold revenge...
Mixed it with those of mortal Men.

Alexander :
Why?

King Philip "The One-Eye" II of Macedon:
Who knows these things?

One day, things will change.
Men will change.
But first, The Gods must change.

But all this you'll forget, Alexander.
That's why we call them 'Myths'.

....We can't bear to remember them.

Alexander :
I'll remember.
And one day, I'll be on 
walls like these.....

*****

Ptolomy the Historian :
Alexander once said to me :
" We are most alone when we are with the myths. "

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