Background:
This phrase is first recorded in Homer's Iliad:
Then to him, unterrified, said Hector of the glancing helm: "Son of Peleus,
think not with words to affright me as a child since I too know myself how to
speak taunts and unjust speech. And I know that thou art a man of might, and far better man than I. Yet doth this issue lie in the lap of the gods, whether I though weaker shall take thy life with my hurled spear, for mine too hath been found keen ere now."
(from the 1922 Andrew Lang, Water Leaf & Ernest Myers translation of the Ilead
of Homer)
Apparently 'lap of the gods' can also be translated 'knees of the gods' which
doesn't quite have the same ring about it!
A very large book - in number of pages and in content - and every page worth reading. Thoroughly enjoyed this one and her first book on the...
read more
Two Lives is a memoir written by international best-selling author, Vikram Seth. In this interesting and engaging book, Seth writes about his great...
read more
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Judge rules unused Borders gift cards to be worthless(May 23 2013) Borders owes nothing to holders of roughly $210.5 million of gift cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain shut down, a Manhattan federal...
Full Story
