Grim's Hall

How little has changed:

From the Washington Post:

In a model of how the Marines say they hope their relationship with the Iraqi people can evolve, the two sides struck a deal: the Marines agreed to escort some villagers to a nearby well to get clean water and help repair damage caused by the fleeing Iraqi army. The village leaders agreed to go house to house, rounding up rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons that could be used against U.S. forces.

The bargain was sealed with a feast cooked up by the townspeople, featuring rice, bread and goat cooked over an open fire.

From the Beowulf:

Gathered together, the Geatish men

in the banquet-hall on bench assigned,

sturdy-spirited, sat them down,

hardy-hearted. A henchman attended,

carried the carven cup in hand...

Is this the modern world, where warriors from far off bring promises to guard their hosts with valor, and are feasted as heroes? It is our world, today. The journals of psychology and sociology are worthless as guides to it. But there are ready sources that speak to it, tell us how to live in it, master it, and stride across it. They are the old songs, the epic poems, the sagas and the tales. A man might read a thousand page book by this or that famous journalist on the subject of Iraq, and still be at a loss when he tried to pass among the tribes. The same man, if he hears the Iliad, knows just what must be done.

Then let him make thee a rich feast of
reconcilement in his hut, that thou have nothing lacking of thy right.
And thou, son of Atreus, toward others also shalt be more righteous
herafter; for no shame it is that a man that is a king should make
amends if he have been the first to deal violently.

Wise words from Odysseus, master mariner and soldier.