Ruin, eldest daughter of Zeus, she blinds us all.
that fatal madness – she with those delicate feet of hers,
never touching the earth, gliding over the heads of men
to trap us all. She entangles one man, now another.
Why, she and her frenzy blinded Zeus one time,
highest, greatest of men and gods, they say.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 19, lines 106-111. Is Agamemnon attempting to apologize to Achilles for his dispute with him? Not really, instead he is blaming the goddess Ruin for manipulating him! She even succeeded in blinding Zeus on one occasion, he maintains. Has Agamemnon no free choice over his actions? That’s what he seems to say whenever he does something wrong – blame everything on fate and the gods, they control the actions of us humans!