Dana Levine
GSI: Jerilyn Sambrooke
Precis
Passage six advances four arguments for why Helen should not be blamed for the war: plans of the gods, physical abduction, persuasion, and love. By stripping Helen of all agency in each of the four alternatives, Gorgias is reminding us of Helen’s inferiority as a human. Helen is not powerful enough to resist the gods, physically strong enough to resist abduction, or mentally strong enough to resist discourse or love. This sets the tone for the entire encomium.
First, Gorgias addresses the gods because this is how Homer secures Helen’s guilt. The emphasis on superiority of the divine over human can be seen as an argument drawn from that of Homer’s in the Iliad. Homer’s depiction of Helen and allegiance to the gods serves as a template for Gorgias to attempt to disprove Helen’s guilt so that it can be shifted elsewhere. In the Iliad, the gods are the enablers of the stories by navigating characters and events. Here, Homer blamed Helen for leaving Troy and causing the war with little blame attributed to the gods’ ability to guide human doing, though this divinity is present throughout the epic. Now, Gorgias is arguing that because of a predetermined fate imposed by the gods or by the power of divine influence which is accepted by Homer, Helen is not to blame; the gods are responsible. Gorgias is using Homer’s logic and mechanism of elevating the power of divine influence in order to exonerate Helen of blame.
Gorgias further argues that humans have no ability to question or escape superiority which is also the gods. Because humans are not capable of comprehending or ruling over a higher power, the gods should be left unquestioned as humans are servant to the gods’ desire. This is a powerful assertion because it leaves the first of the four arguments Gorgias gives to be unquestionable within a human’s reasoning. Additionally, his use of the word natural as a declarative assumes that there is an existing set of mutually accepted norms which accept this idea of what is natural. He argues, “it is not natural for the superior to be hindered by the inferior” which is an effective argument because it forces his audience to yield their personal values and beliefs and submit to what Gorgias deems as natural.
The other possibilities Gorgias gives in the encomium as reasons to exonerate Helen of blame are mere happenings under the umbrella of the gods’ plans. If one believes that Helen left Troy at will, it is still predicated on the fact that this will was shaped by the gods and led by their involvement in fate because the gods are of an inescapable power larger and more superior than all human beings. The passage ends: “one must acquit Helen of infamy”. Here, Gorgias is not yet removing all blame from Helen; he is saying that Helen should not be known for wrong-doing. Whether or not Helen was aware of what she was doing and whether or not she willingly participated, it was by will of the gods that she did so, or by abduction or persuasion or love, and was therefore not her will. Helen was merely a participant in the unfolding of events that led to the war, but by the will and doing of others. In this passage, the establishment of the ability of the divine and Helen’s inferiority both physically and mentally constructs a trajectory for the arguments in the rest of the encomium.
Gorgias, Encomium of Helen
(6) Either by the wishes of Fortune and plans of the gods and decrees of Necessity she did what she did, or abducted by force, or persuaded by speeches, <or conquered by Love>. Now in the first case, the responsible party deserves the responsibility. For the will of a god cannot be hindered by human forethought. For it is not natural for the superior to be hindered by the inferior, but for the inferior to be ruled and led by the superior--for the superior to lead and the inferior to follow. And a god is superior to a human being in force, intelligence, etcetera. Accordingly, if one must attribute responsibility to Fortune and the god, one must acquit Helen of infamy.
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