Editorials

The ancient Greeks told stories about the history of the world as they knew it which are still a useful way to predict what will happen to humans in the modern world. Hercules, half man and half god, was one of the central figures in Greek mythology. Like Superman in the 20th century, he dedicated his career to stamping out evil wherever he found it. One of the labors, or heroic tasks, of Hercules was killing the legendary Hydra.  

Whoever is calling the shots in Israel today would be well advised to study the lesson of Hercules and the poisonous Hydra, depicted below.  

According to Bullfinch, “the Hydra had nine heads, of which the middle one was immortal. Hercules struck off its heads with his club, but in the place of the head knocked off, two new ones grew forth each time.” 

At the moment, Israeli leaders are engaged in the seemingly futile task of cutting off the heads of Hamas. They can be sure that for every leader they assassinate, two will grow in his place. [Note to my faithful Zionist correspondents: we are not talking about morality here. We are talking about strategy and logic.] Now, it’s true that Hercules eventually defeated the Hydra, as Bullfinch recounts: “At length with the assistance of his faithful servant Iolaus, he burned away the heads of the Hydra, and buried the ninth or immortal one under a huge rock.”  

But what Sharon and his ilk should also keep in mind is Hercules’ ultimate fate. He dipped his arrows into the Hydra’s venom, which gave them magical powers to vanquish enemies. This, however, eventually resulted in the hero’s death. A venom-dipped arrow was used to kill one Nessus. As he was dying, Nessus persuaded Hercules’ wife to dip a shirt in his blood to use as a love potion. She gave it to Hercules to wear, and when he put it on it, it killed him.  

The Latin poet Ovid described the gruesome outcome in Metamorphoses: 

“Desperately he tried to tear the fatal shirt away; each tear tore his skin too, and, loathsome to relate, either it stuck, defeating his attempts to free it from his flesh, or else laid bare his lacerated muscles and huge bones. Why, as the poison burned, his very blood bubbled and hissed as when a white-hot blade is quenched in icy water. Never an end! The flames licked inwards, greedy for his guts; dark perspiration streamed from every pore; his scorching sinews crackled; the blind rot melted his marrow ... In wounded agony he roamed the heights of Oeta [and died escaping pain in the flames of his funeral pyre].”  

Israel, half secular state and half theocracy, with the help of its faithful servant the United States, might be able to destroy Hamas. Americans have traditionally admired Israel, and condemned Hamas’ suicide bomber tactics. But if Israeli leaders dip their arrows into the venom of those they despise, they could be creating the means for their own nation’s destruction. 

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Daily Planet. 

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