Irish Taoiseach,today, telling Boris Johnson some hard truths about Brexit, to his discomfort.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. The Athena allusion analysed:

In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena did assist Hercules as an ally during the performance of his 12 labours. She provided, for example, bronze krotala – noise-makers similar to castanets – to help him scare off the flock of Stymphalian birds. And in some versions of the tale she was also of service to him by returning to their rightful place the golden apples of the gods that Hercules had been asked to obtain.

But it is perhaps her most dramatic intervention in the life of Hercules that Varadkar was obliquely referring to.

Hercules was obliged to perform the 12 labours as an act of penitence after he had descended into madness and murdered his wife, Megara, and his children. At the moment he was about to go on and kill the man who had fostered him, Amphitryon, Athena intervened. Seeing that he had gone mad, she struck Hercules down and knocked him out to prevent him causing more bloodshed and doing more damage than he had already done.

Very much what you would hope for from a friend and ally, but maybe not what you would want to hear on the international stage at a moment of tense diplomacy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/09/leo-varadkar-athena-hercules-boris-johnson-why