Homer: The great gods are never pleased with violent deeds

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Greek and Roman writers on war and peace
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Homer
From The Odyssey
Translated by William Cullen Bryant

The great gods are never pleased
With violent deeds; they honor equity
And justice. Even those who land as foes
And spoilers upon foreign shores, and bear
Away much plunder by the will of Jove,
Returning homeward with their laden barks,
Feel, brooding heavily upon their minds,
The fear of vengeance.

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