a good story : part 5

 

The motto of Sunderland, the city where I live, is NIL DESPERANDUM, AUSPICE DEO, which roughly translates as, ‘Do not despair, trust in God.’

The words are adapted from a line in the Odes of Horace, spoken by Teucer. Teucer was a mythical Greek prince, son of the king of the island of Salamis, who took part in the decade-long siege of Troy. This intractable conflict, between relatives on either side of the Aegean Sea, was provoked by Zeus, king of the gods of Olympus, to deal with human over-population and, at the same time, the personal problem that his serial sexual violence towards (goddesses and) human women (alike) had resulted in the birth of many demi-god heroes, whose very existence was an affront to Zeus’ wife, Hera. If they could be provoked to destroy one another, Zeus’ problems might go away.

At Troy, Teucer (a grandson of Zeus) found fame as an archer, often firing at the Trojans from behind the giant shield of his older half-brother, Ajax. (Zeus eventually broke his grandson’s bow, just to influence the balance of the war.) Teucer was also one of the men who finally breached Troy’s defences inside the wooden horse. But towards the end of the war, Ajax, despairing at being overlooked in favour of Odysseus to inherit the fallen Achilles’ armour, took his own life. Teucer insisted that Ajax be buried where he died. After the war, on returning home, their father accused Teucer of negligence for not having brought Ajax’s body, and armour, home, and banished him for ever. At this point, Teucer set out onto unknown seas in search of a new home, inspiring his companions that there was no need to despair (at their banishment) with Teucer as their guide, for the god Apollo had assured him of success: he will found a new Salamis elsewhere.

Do not despair, trust in God.

But does it matter which god?

In Acts 16, Paul and his companions set sail from the Troad — the vicinity of ancient Troy — across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia (north of the Achaeans who went to war against Troy, but by now — that is, Paul’s time — both what we would recognise as Greek).

Paul comes as the new Teucer, a man exiled from his birth community, who has set out on the Sea of life in an uncertain world, proclaiming not himself as a guide backed by one or another member of the feuding family of Olympian gods, but Jesus as the leader (guide) backed by the God of the Jews.

(Luke, who records Paul’s story, is the new Homer, and a rival storyteller to Horace, who, by fascinating coincidence had served in the Battle of Philippi, where Paul would arrive a hundred years later, and who had reimagined Teucer’s story to proclaim Octavian — later, Augustus — as the founder of a new beginning.)

The question is, which story will you choose? Which guide, or leader to follow? Teucer? Augustus? Jesus? Someone else?

To whom will you look when tempted to despair?