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The Odyssey

AUTHOR BIOFull Name: Homer

Date of Birth: 7th or 8th century BC

Place of Birth: Homer's birthplace has been disputed, but manyscholars have suggested that he was born in Smyrna, inmodern-day Turkey.

Date of Death: 7th or 8th century BC

Brief Life Story: Little is known about Homer's life. Manypeople believe no such person ever existed, and that "Homer" isa pseudonym uniting the works of many authors from varioustime periods. Others believe that he was a blind court singer inthe 8th century BC.

KEY FACTSFull Title: The Odyssey

Genre: Epic Poem

Setting: The Pelopponese and the Ionian islands in MycenaeanGreece, in the 10 years after the fall of Troy, circa 12th centuryBC.

Climax: The slaughter of the suitors

Protagonist: Odysseus

Antagonist: The suitors

Point of View: Third person omniscient

HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CONTEXTWhen Written: 8th or 7th century BC.

Where Written: Ancient Greece

When Published: The poem was passed down orally for manygenerations, but the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos established acommittee to compile and revise Homer's manuscripts in the6th century BC. The oldest complete manuscript of the poemdates back to the 10th or 11th century AD. Dozens of Englishtranslations have been published since the 17th century.

Literary Period: Ancient Greece (pre-Classical)

Related Literary Works: The Odyssey is the sequel to The Iliad,which describes the events of the Trojan War. The epics areconsidered the Nrst known works of Western literature, andexerted vast inOuence on most of the authors and philosophersin ancient Greece as well as epic poems written in Roman,Medieval, and Renaissance times, such as The Aeneid, The Divine

Comedy, and Paradise Lost. Some scholars have pointed outresemblances between The Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh, aMesopotamian poem that dates back to the 18th century BC.

Related Historical Events: Most ancient Greeks believed thatthe Trojan War took place in the 11th or 12th century BC, buton a slightly smaller scale than what was depicted in stories andlegends. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance scholarsbelieved that the Trojan War was pure invention, but in the pastcentury archeologists and geologists have excavated sites thatcorrespond topographically to the geography of Troy andsurrounding sites, as they were described in The Iliad. Today,most scholars agree that the Mycenean Greeks did storm a citycalled Troy in the 11th century BC, but that the details of thebattle described in The Iliad and The Odyssey are Nctitious.

EXTRA CREDITThe Limits of Papyrus. The Odyssey was initially recorded onfragile papyrus scrolls; some people believe that the length ofeach of the twenty-four books was determined by the length ofa single scroll, which would break if it exceeded a certain size.

Son of Telemachus. The Oracle at Delphi claimed that Homerwas Telemachus's son.

The story begins twenty years after Odysseus left to Nght inthe Trojan War, and ten years after he began his journey hometo Ithaca. We enter the story in medias res – in the middle ofthings: Odysseus is trapped on an island with the lovesickgoddess Calypso, while his wife and son suffer thetransgressions of the suitors, noble young men who vie forqueen Penelope's hand. The loyal queen has rebuffed theiradvances for many years, because she holds out hope thatOdysseus may one day return. In the meantime the suitorshave run free in the household, holding noisy parties anddraining the resources of the estate.

The goddess Athena decides to intervene on Odysseus'sbehalf. She convinces Zeus to send the messenger god Hermesto disentangle Odysseus from Calypso's grasp, and she herselfOies to Ithaca to give courage and guidance to the helplessyoung prince Telemachus. She inspires Telemachus to set sailto Pylos and Sparta in search of news about Odysseus; hisnewfound conNdence and familial feeling alarms the suitors,who plot to murder him on his way home. King Nestor of Pyloscan't give Telemachus any information about Odysseus, butKing Menelaus of Sparta reports that he learned from the seagod Proteus that Odysseus is alive on the island Ogygia.

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Meanwhile, Hermes Oies to Ogygia and tells Calypso to letOdysseus go. Odysseys departs, and sails for seventeen daysuntil he sees the Phaeacian shore; after some difNculties, hereaches land and falls asleep. The next morning, the Phaeacianprincess Nausicaa Nnds him on the beach in a pitiable state. Shegives him food and clothes and offers to introduce him to herparents, the king and queen – but she asks that he enter thecity at a distance from her, to ward off uncharitable gossip.

After he spends some time at court, he tells Alcinous and Aretethe full story of his travels. He describes the Cicones, whopunished Odysseus's men for recklessness and greed, and theLotus Eaters, whose Oowers sent his men into a happy stupor.He tells the king and queen how he blinded the CyclopsPolyphemus, who called on his father Poseidon to avenge him.He tells them about Aeolus's bag of winds and about thecannibal Laestrygonians, the witch Circe that turned his meninto pigs, the journey to the kingdom of the dead, the alluringSirens and the monsters Scylla and Chabrydis. With each trial,the crew's death toll rose, and Odysseus's ingenuity grew moredesperate. Finally, the men anchored on the Island of the Sun.The prophet Tiresias warned Odysseus to keep his crew fromharming the Sun God's cattle, but the men killed a few animalswhen Odysseus was asleep. When they were once again at sea,Zeus sent down a punitive bolt of lightning that killed everyman except Odysseus, who Ooated on a makeshift raft toCalypso's island, where he lived in captivity for seven years.

Here the king Nnishes his story. The next day, Alcinous sendshim home in a Phaeacian ship loaded with treasure. Athenaapprises him of the dire situation in his household, warns him ofthe suffering still to come, and disguises him as a ragged beggar.She sends him to the farm of the loyal swineherd Eumaeus; shealso advises Telemachus to hurry home from Sparta. Father andson reunite and plot their revenge against the suitors.

The next day, Eumaeus and Odysseus come to court. The king'sold dog Argos recognizes him despite his changed appearance,and the nurse Eurycleia recognizes him by the familiar huntingscar on his knee. Penelope is friendly to him but does not yetguess his real identity. Some of the suitors mock and abuseOdysseus in his disguise, but the king exercises great self-restraint and does not respond in kind. Finally, the despairingqueen announces that she will hold an archery contest: she willmarry the man that can use Odysseus's bow to shoot an arrowthrough a row of axes. But none of the suitors can even stringOdysseus's bow, let alone shoot it.

Odysseus, of course, shoots the arrow with grace and ease.Just then the slaughter begins. With the help of Athena, theswineherd, and the cowherd, Odysseus and Telemachusmurder the suitors one by one; they also kill the disloyal maidsand servants. Soon enough, Odysseus reunites with Penelope.The suitors' families gather to avenge the murders, but Zeusorders them to stand down. Odysseus must leave for a brief

journey to appease Poseidon, who still holds a grudge.Nevertheless, Ithaca is once again at peace.

OdysseusOdysseus – King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, and father ofTelemachus, former commander in the Trojan War, Odysseus isthe Oawed, beloved hero of this tale of homecoming andrevenge. His character is deeply contradictory: he is both acunning champion and a plaything of the gods, a wisecommander and a vainglorious braggart. After the Trojan War,which left him swollen with pride and fame, Odysseus seeksadventure on his way home; but the journey brings muchdefeat and humiliation, and the Odysseus that lands on theshores of Ithaca is a humbler, wiser man, more pious andreserved. As longing for adventure wanes, homesicknessgrows; the strictures of honor replace the demands of glory.Only when Odysseus learns to yield some control of his fate tothe gods can he take charge of his life and bring peace to hishousehold.

TTelemachuselemachus – Odysseus's young son. Telemachus spends hisyouth helplessly watching the suitors corrupt his householdand harass his mother Penelope, but Athena's forcefulguidance helps him mature from a nervous youth to aconNdent, eloquent man – much like his father. AlthoughAthena's hovering, controlling presence might seem oppressiveand restrictive, it helps the prince to acquire a great deal offreedom in speech and action. His Nnal passage into manhood isthe Nght against the suitors, where he proves his courage andskill.

PPenelopeenelope – Odysseus's wife and Telemachus's mother. In thebeginning of the story, Penelope's most prominent qualities arepassivity, loyalty, and patience (along with beauty and skill atthe loom) – the age-old feminine virtues. She does very littlebut lie in bed and weep. But from the start we are given tounderstand that she possesses other hidden qualities. The trickof the loom, which she weaves and unweaves in order to holdthe suitors at bay, matches the cunning of any of Odysseus'splans. Her Nnal scene, in which she mentions the bridal bedbuilt around the olive tree, shows her cleverness as well: shetests Odysseus just as he has tested her. Theirs is a marriage ofwits.

AthenaAthena – The goddess of wisdom, justice, and courage. Shetakes a particular liking to Odysseus, and by extensionTelemachus – perhaps because Odysseus's suffering is greaterthan his crimes, perhaps because he embodies the values shechampions. Secretively and light-handedly, she guidesTelemachus and helps Odysseus when she can. She usuallyappears to mortals disguised as another mortal or as a bird; itmight be that she is naturally reticent (as Zeus is naturallydramatic and ostentatious), or it might be that she takes pains

CHARACHARACTERSCTERS



to allow her heroes freedom of choice. Her partiality toOdysseus sometimes conOicts with Zeus and Poseidon'sresentments, so she must act indirectly.

MentesMentes –One of Athena's disguises.

PPoseidonoseidon – A sea god who holds a longstanding grudge againstOdysseus for killing his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Hemakes Odysseus's journey home very long and difNcult.

ZZeuseus – King of all the gods, and the god of sky and lightning. Heholds assembly on Mount Olympus and negotiates the desiresand grievances of the gods. He punishes Odysseus when hiscrew eats the Cattle of the sun god Helios. He allows Athena tohelp Odysseus, and he allows Poseidon to hurt him.

LaertesLaertes –Odysseus'sfather, who lives in poverty on a farm.

AnticleiaAnticleia –Odysseus's mother, who died of longing for her son.

EuryEurycleiacleia – Odysseus's kindly nurse, and the Nrst person torecognize Odysseus in his beggar disguise.

CalypsoCalypso – A beautiful goddess who falls in love with Odysseusand holds him captive for seven years on the island Ogygia.

CirceCirce – A beautiful witch from the island Aeaea who turnsOdysseus's crew into pigs; when Odysseus (with the aid of thedrug moly) proves immune to her spell, she falls in love with himand hosts him and his crew on the island.

AntinousAntinous – The most insolent and impious suitor. Antinous rilesthe other suitors to conceive violent schemes againstOdysseus and Telemachus, ignores rules of basic decency, andmouths off every chance he gets. He is the Nrst to die in thebattle.

EurymachusEurymachus –A rude and deceitful suitor.

EumaeusEumaeus – The loyal swineherd who helps Odysseus defeatthe suitors.

NestorNestor –King of Pylos, commander in the Trojan War.

PisistrPisistratusatus –Nestor's son.

PPolyolycastecaste –Nestor's daughter.

MenelausMenelaus – King of Sparta, commander in the Trojan War,Agamemnon's brother.

HelenHelen – Menelaus's wife, famous for her beauty and pivotalrole in the Trojan War.

AgamemnonAgamemnon – Menelaus's brother, murdered by his wife'slover when he came home from the Trojan War.

AegisthusAegisthus –Clytemnestra's lover, Agamemnon's murderer.

ClytemnestrClytemnestraa – Agamemnon's unfaithful wife.

OrestesOrestes – Agamemnon's son.

ProteusProteus – A shape-shifting sea god.

EidotheaEidothea – Proteus's daughter.

MedonMedon – Herald in Odysseus's court.

HermesHermes –The messenger god.

AchaeansAchaeans – A general word that encompasses the Greekcivilizations.

PhaeaciansPhaeacians – A hospitable people who deliver Odysseus toIthaca.

TTrojansrojans – The people of Troy, the site of the Trojan War.

InoIno – A goddess who helps Odysseus reach thePhaeacianshore.

AlcinousAlcinous – The Phaeacian king who hosts Odysseus veryhospitably and helps him return to Ithaca.

AreteArete – The Phaeacian queen.

NausicaaNausicaa – A Phaeacian Princess, daughter of Alcinous.

DemodocusDemodocus – A bard in Alcinous's court.

LaodamasLaodamas – A man in Alcinous's court.

BroadseaBroadsea – A man in Alcinous's court who provokes Odysseusto take part in the athletic contests.

AchillesAchilles – A warrior who gained great fame and died in theTrojan War.

AjaxAjax – A warrior in the Trojan War.

AresAres – The god of war, Aphrodite's lover.

AphroditeAphrodite – The goddess of love, wife of Hephaestus.

HephaestusHephaestus – The crippled goldsmith god, jilted husband ofAphrodite.

HeliosHelios – The sun god, owner of the Cattle of the Sun.

CiconesCicones – A people that take revenge on Odysseus's crew .

LLotus Eatersotus Eaters – A people who grow and eat the somnolent lotusOower.

CyCyclopsclops – Cannibalistic giants who live in caves.

PPolyphemusolyphemus – A Cyclops son of Poseidon whom Odysseusblinds.

AeolusAeolus – The god of wind.

LaestrygoniansLaestrygonians – Giant cannibals.

AntiphatesAntiphates – King of the Laestrygonians.

EurylochusEurylochus – A member of Odysseus's crew who oftendisobeys Odysseus.

TiresiasTiresias – A prophet with whom Odysseus speaks in theunderworld.

ElpenorElpenor – A member of Odysseus's crew who died by falling offCirce's roof after getting drunk.

SirensSirens – Creatures disguised as beautiful women whosebeautiful singing lures sailors to jump into the sea and drown.

ScyllaScylla – A man-eating monster with six heads.

ChabryChabrydisdis – A monster that creates a whirlpool three times aday.



TheoclymenusTheoclymenus – A prophet who sails to Ithaca from Spartawith Telemachus.

AmphinomusAmphinomus – A kindly and well-intentioned suitor.

MelanthiusMelanthius – The rude goatherd.

ArgosArgos – Odysseus's old dog.

Arnaeus (Irus)Arnaeus (Irus) – A rude beggar whom Odysseus Nghts.

AutolyAutolycuscus – Odysseus's grandfather, with whom he got thehunting scar on his knee.

CtesippusCtesippus – A rude, violent suitor.

PhiloetiusPhiloetius – The cowherd that helps Odysseus Nght thesuitors.

EupithesEupithes – Antinous's father.

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1 FATE, THE GODS, AND FREE WILL

Three somewhat distinct forces shape the lives of men andwomen in The Odyssey: fate, the interventions of the gods, andthe actions of the men and women themselves. Fate is the forceof death in the midst of life, the destination each man or womanwill ultimately reach. Though the gods seem all-powerful, "noteven the gods/ can defend a man, not even one they love, thatday/ when fate takes hold and lays him out at last."

While fate determines the ultimate destination, the nature ofthe journey toward that fate—whether it will be difNcult oreasy, full of shame or glory—depends on the actions of gods andmen. Sometimes a god works against a particular man or groupof men that have in some way earned that god's anger, as whenPoseidon blocks Odysseus's attempts to return home topunish him for blinding Poseidon's son Polyphemus. In suchinstances, the destructive actions of the gods tend to affectmen like natural disasters: they alter men's lives but do notcurtail men's freedom to act as they choose amidst the rubble.

Sometimes a god works to help a man or group that the godfavors, as when Athena disguises Odysseus on his return fromIthaca; but in these cases the line between human free will anddivine intervention can get quite blurry. Athena helpsTelemachus to take action by giving him courage: but does sheaffect him like a steroid that artiNcially augments his strength,or like a wise friend that helps him to more fully grasp his owninherent abilities? Whether the gods manipulate human actionsor inspire humans to follow their own free will is never entirelyclear.

2 PIETY, CUSTOMS, AND JUSTICE

The world of The Odyssey is deNned by rules that prescribehuman interactions. Important customs include hospitablebehavior to strangers and guests, respect for family andmarriage, and punishment of those who have violated thesecustoms. The lines between these customs can be blurry, and attimes the customs may even conOict – as in the case ofAgamemnon's son Orestes, who must avenge Agamemnon'smurder by his wife Clytemnestra, but in doing so has to kill hisown mother. A person who fails to follow these customs usuallyfalls victim to violent justice meted out by other humans or bythe gods. Those who act quickly, selNshly, or ignorantly arelikely to run afoul of the complicated interplay of thesecustoms; at the same time, those who are cunning andthoughtful can get their way within the conNnes of the rules,bending but not breaking them.

The gods also reward piety and punish disrespect and hubris(excessive pride). Human piety toward the gods takes manyforms, such as sacriNce and respect for a divine property andoffspring. Yet the gods are often unreliable in their assessmentsof human piety. It can take very little for a god to feel slighted,and the consequences are often unpredictable. Poseidonremains angry at Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemuseven after he punishes Odysseus repeatedly, but eventuallydecides to spare Odysseus's life on a whim.

The emotions of the gods sometimes conOict, and themysterious tugs and pulls of divine inOuence determine theOuctuations of justice on earth. The Phaeacians follow Zeus'scode of hospitality in welcoming Odysseus and speeding himhome; but Poseidon (still sore at Odysseus) interprets theiractions as a mark of disrespect, so Zeus joins him in punishingthe Phaeacians for an action that should have pleased him. Theoutlines of divine justice align with a set of assumptions abouthuman conduct, but the details are a blurry tangle of Olympiantempers.

3 CUNNING, DISGUISE, AND SELF-RESTRAINT

The qualities of cunning, disguise, and self-restraint are closelyrelated in The Odyssey – in some ways, they're sides of the samecoin. Odysseus is cunning, or clever, in many instancesthroughout his journey; one needs cleverness in order tosurvive in this ancient world of gods and monsters. As part ofhis cunning, Odysseus often disguises his identity – sometimesin order to survive a dangerous trial, as when he claims to becalled Nobody in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, andsometimes in order to achieve a goal, as when he assumes theappearance of a beggar upon his return to Ithaca (he alsodisguises himself as a beggar as part of a military maneuver inTroy: both disguises ultimately bring him glory). "The man oftwists and turns" is like Proteus, who escapes his captors bychanging shapes.

THEMESTHEMES



Odysseus is also cunning in his capacity to separate his feelingsfrom his actions. A "cunning tactician," he often chooses hisactions based on previously formed plans rather than onpresent feelings. When Odysseus watches the Cyclops eat hiscompanions, he does not charge at the Cyclops in blind rageand grief: he suppresses his grief and formulates a plan thatallows him to escape with at least part of his crew. Just like inhis encounter with the suitors in the second half of the book, hepostpones the revenge he craves. Odysseus's self-restraint issymbolized in his encounter with the Sirens: he asks his men totie him to the mast in order to survive.

Similarly, Odysseus's many disguises are emblematic of his self-restraint: disguise separates the inside from the outside, just asself-restraint separates feeling from action. Penelope andTelemachus are also cunning in their own ways, and theircunning, too, is connected to self-restraint; and Odysseus'screw often meets with disaster because of a lack of self-restraint, as when they slaughter the Cattle of the Sun, or whenthey eat Circe's poisoned meal. The characters of the Odysseyneed cunning, disguise, and self-restraint to survive the trials ofthe gods and achieve glory.

4 MEMORY AND GRIEF

Memory is a source of grief for many characters in The Odyssey.Grief and tears are proper ways to honor the memory of absentor departed friends, but grief as a mere expression of selNshsadness or fear is somewhat shameful – Odysseus often chideshis crew for wailing in grief for fear of death. Moreover, thegrief caused by memory is in many instances a guide to rightaction. Telemachus' grief for his father spurs him to takecommand of his household and journey to other kingdoms insearch of news. Penelope remains faithful to Odysseus becauseshe remembers him and grieves in her memory, and the godshonor her loyalty – just as they scorn the disloyalty ofAgamemnon's wife. Odysseus remains faithful in his heart tothe memory of Penelope even in the seven years he spends asCalypso's unwilling lover, and his memory keeps alive his desirefor home.

If memory in The Odyssey is a guide to action, it follows that lossof memory is often a loss of desire - since it is mainly desire thatcauses people to act. The Lotus-Eaters, Circe and the Sirens allthreaten to halt the homecoming of Odysseus's crew byerasing the men's memories and extinguishing their desires.Like grief, desire can be both noble and shameful: desire forhome is noble, but desire for food and drink is bestial. In theCirce episode, the men who are stripped of their desire forhome become swine – as though a person without desire forsomething other than food and drink is no longer human.

The opposite of grief seems to be the forgetfulness andinnocence of sleep, which Athena often gifts to Penelope orTelemachus to ease their sorrows. But sleep, like loss of

memory, can be treacherous: when Odysseus falls asleep afterhis encounter with the god Aeolus, his crew opens the bag ofwinds that was the god's parting gift, and the winds cause aterrible storm. Grief and memory are noble, heroic experiencesin The Odyssey. Lotus Oower, Circe, and the Sirens are said tospellbind their victims, as the bards spellbind their listeners;but the songs of the bards enhance memory rather thandestroy it. The Odyssey itself was such a song, a spell of memoryand grief.

5 GLORY AND HONOR

Odysseus and other characters are motivated by pursuit ofglory and honor. In the course of the story, the two termsacquire distinct meanings. Glory is attained mainly by victory inbattle and by feats of strength and cunning, while honor isattained by just, lawful behavior. Sometimes the two pursuitsconOict with one another, since striving for glory can lead toreckless, proud behavior that violates customs and angers thegods. For example, Odysseus blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus inorder to avenge the deaths of six crew members: the violence isan act of honor because vengeance is customary and just.

Odysseus escapes the Cyclops with most of his crew in part bynaming himself Nobody – a symbolic act of self-effacement. Butat the last moment, he calls out to the Cyclops to declare that itwas he, Odysseus, who defeated him, so that the Cyclops canspread his fame and win him glory. And because Odysseusnames himself, the Cyclops brings great misfortune to him andhis crew by inciting the rage of Poseidon (the Cyclops' father).In seeking glory, he betrays his crew and greatly prolongs hisjourney home. Similarly, he decides to face both Scylla andCharybdis, "hell-bent yet again on battle and on feats of arms,"although it costs him several of his men.

In the course of his journey home, however, Odysseus seems torepent of his youthful hunt for glory. Disguised as a beggar, hesays to one of the suitors: "I too seemed destined to be a man offortune once/ and a wild wicked swath I cut, indulged my lustfor violence…. Let not man ever be lawless all his life,/ just takein peace what gifts the gods will send." He humbles himself infront of the suitors in order to avenge the great dishonor theyhave brought to his wife and his household. Although thevengeance brings him glory in battle, it is ultimately an act ofhonor. By the end of the journey, honor rather than glorybecomes the guide to right action.

Symbols appear in red text throughout the Summary & Analysissections of this LitChart.

SYMBOLSSYMBOLS



FOODAlmost every fortune and misfortune in The Odyssey is a sceneof men eating or being eaten. Every kindness culminates in ameal, and nearly every trial culminates in cannibalism or poison.Scylla, the Cyclops, and the Laestrygonians all eat some ofOdysseus's men; Circe and the Lotus Eaters slip the menharmful drugs; and the feast of the Cattle of the Sun results inthe destruction of his remaining crew. The suitors dishonorOdysseus's household by their incessant feasting, and variouspeople honor Odysseus by giving him food and wine. Odysseusoften comments that all men are burdened by their basephysical needs; perhaps the tedious human cycle of ingestionand excretion represents the vicissitudes of the mortal world asopposed to the clean permanence of the divine.

BIRDSSeveral bird omens foreshadow the Nnal battle betweenOdysseus's men and the suitors. Early on in the book, twoeagles tear each other to death; later, an eagle kills a goose (asin Penelope's dream); and toward the end, an eagle Oies by witha swallow in its mouth. As the scene of the revenge drawscloser, the birds that symbolize the suitors become smaller andweaker: the suitors' deaths become more and more inevitable.Birds, in The Odyssey, are transient messages from the gods.Athena herself takes the shape of a bird on several occasions;birds represent her sly and gentle take on divine intervention.

The color-coded boxes under each quote below make it easy totrack the themes related to each quote. Each color correspondsto one of the themes explained in the Themes section of thisLitChart.

BOOK 1Ah how shameless – the way these mortals blame the gods.From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes,but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,compound their pains beyond their proper share.

•Speak•Speakerer: Zeus

•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice, Glory and Honor

••Theme TTheme Trrackacker codeer code:

11 22 55

BOOK 2You should be ashamed yourselves,mortiNed in the face of neighbors living round about!Fear the gods' wrath – before they wheel in outrageand make these crimes recoil on your heads.

•Speak•Speakerer: Telemachus

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Antinous, Eurymachus,Ctesippus



11 22 55

BOOK 3Some of the words you'll Nnd within yourself,the rest some power will inspire you to say.You least of all – I know –were born and reared without the gods' good will.

•Speak•Speakerer: Athena

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Telemachus

•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice


11 22

But the great leveler, Death: not even the godscan defend a man, not even one they love, that daywhen fate takes hold and lays him out at last.




11 22

BOOK 4What other tribute can we pay to wretched menthan to cut a lock, let tears roll down our cheeks?

•Speak•Speakerer: Pisistratus

•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice, Memory and Grief

QUOQUOTESTES




11 22 44

BOOK 5Outrageous! Look how the gods have changed their mindsabout Odysseus – while I was off with my Ethiopians.Just look at him there, nearing Phaeacia's shoreswhere he's fated to escape his noose of painthat's held him until now. Still my hopes ride high –I'll give that man his swamping Nll of trouble!

•Speak•Speakerer: Poseidon

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Odysseus



11 22

Three, four times blessed, my friends-in-armswho died on the plains of Troy those years ago,serving the sons of Atreus to the end. Would to godI'd died there too and met my fate that day ….A hero's funeral then, my glory spread by comrades –now what a wretched death I'm doomed to die!

•Speak•Speakerer: Odysseus

•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Glory andHonor


11 55

BOOK 6But here's an unlucky wanderer strayed our way,and we must tend him well. Every stranger and beggarcomes from Zeus.

•Speak•Speakerer: Nausicaa

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Odysseus, Zeus

•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice


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BOOK 7Just as Phaeacian men excel the world at sailing,driving their swift ships on the open seas,so the women excel at all the arts of weaving.That is Athena's gift to them beyond all others –a genius for lovely work, and a Nne mind too.

•Related themes•Related themes: Glory and Honor


55

The belly's a shameless dog, there's nothing worse.Always insisting, pressing, it never lets us forget –destroyed as I am, my heart racked with sadness,sick with anguish, still it keeps demanding,‘Eat, drink!' It blots out all the memoryof my pain, commanding, ‘Fill me up!'


•Related themes•Related themes: Memory and Grief


44

BOOK 8The gods don't hand out all their gifts at once,not build and brains and Oowing speech to all.One man may fail to impress us with his looksbut a god can crown his words with beauty, charm,and men look on with delight when he speaks out.Never faltering, Nlled with winning self-control,he shines forth at assembly grounds and people gazeat him like a god when he walks through the streets.Another man may look like a deathless one on highbut there's not a bit of grace to crown his words.


•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Cunning,Disguise, and Self-Restraint, Glory and Honor


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A bad day for adultery! Slow outstrips the Swift.

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Ares, Aphrodite,Hephaestus

•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice, Cunning,Disguise, and Self-Restraint




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BOOK 9Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back,deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband.So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls,the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too.But they never won the heart inside me, never.So nothing is as sweet as a man's own country.


•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Calypso, Circe

•Related themes•Related themes: Cunning, Disguise, and Self-Restraint,Memory and Grief, Glory and Honor


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Since we've chanced on you, we're at your kneesin hopes of a warm welcome, even a guest-gift,the sort that hosts give strangers. That's the custom.Respect the gods, my friend. We're suppliants – at your mercy!Zeus of the Strangers guards all guests and suppliants:strangers are sacred – Zeus will avenge their rights!


•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Zeus, Polyphemus

•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice, Cunning, Disguise, and Self-Restraint


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BOOK 11Even so, you and your crew may still reach home,suffering all the way, if you only have the powerto curb their wild desire and curb your own.

•Speak•Speakerer: Tiresias


•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice, Cunning, Disguise, and Self-Restraint,Glory and Honor


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I tell you this – bear it in mind, you must –when you reach your homeland steer your shipinto port in secret, never out in the open…the time for trusting women's gone forever!

•Speak•Speakerer: Agamemnon

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Odysseus, Clytemnestra



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No winning words about death tome, shining Odysseus!By god, I'd rather slave on earth for another man –some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive –than rule down here over all the breathless dead.

•Speak•Speakerer: Achilles


•Related themes•Related themes: Glory and Honor


55

BOOK 12So stubborn! …Hell-bent again yet again on battle and feats of arms?Can't you bow to the deathless gods themselves?Scylla's no mortal, she's an immortal devastation.

•Speak•Speakerer: Circe

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Odysseus, Scylla

•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice, Cunning, Disguise, and Self-Restraint,Glory and Honor


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BOOK 13Any man – any god who met you – would have to besome champion lying cheat to get past youfor all-round craft and guile! You terrible man,foxy, ingenious, never tired of twists and tricks –so, not even here, on native soil, would you give upthose wily tales that warm the cockles of your heart!





•Related themes•Related themes: Cunning, Disguise, and Self-Restraint


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BOOK 14Trust me, the blessed gods have no love for crime.They honor justice, honor the decent acts of men.

•Speak•Speakerer: Eumaeus

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Antinous, Eurymachus



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BOOK 15Even too much sleep can be a bore. …We two will keep to the shelter here, eat and drinkand take some joy in each other's heartbreaking sorrows,sharing each other's memories.



•Related themes•Related themes: Memory and Grief


44

BOOK 16Would I were young as you, to match their spirit now,or I were the son of great Odysseus, or the king himselfreturned from all his roving – there's still room for hope!Then let some foreigner lop my head off if I failedto march right into Odysseus's royal hallsand kill them all. And what if I went down,crushed by their numbers – I, Nghting alone?I'd rather die, cut down in my own housethan have to look on at their outrage day by day.


•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Telemachus, Antinous,Eurymachus



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BOOK 17Odysseus was torn…Should he wheel with his staff and beat the scoundrelsenseless? –or hoist him by the midriff, split his skull on the rocks?He steeled himself instead, his mind in full control.

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Odysseus, Melanthius

•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice, Cunning,Disguise, and Self-Restraint, Glory and Honor


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Stones and blows and I are hardly strangers.My heart is steeled by now,I've had my share of pain in the waves and wars.Add this to the total. Bring the trial on.


•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice, Cunning,Disguise, and Self-Restraint, Glory and Honor


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You know how you can stare at a bard in wonder –trained by the gods to sing and hold men spellbound –how you can long to sit there, listening, all your lifewhen the man begins to sing. So he charmed my heart.


•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice, Memory andGrief


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BOOK 18Our lives, our mood and mind as we pass across the earthturn as the days turn…I too seemed destined to be a man of fortune onceand a wild wicked swath I cut, indulged my lust for violencestaking all on my father and my brothers.Look at me now.



And so, I say: let no man ever be lawless all his life,just take in peace what gifts the gods will send.




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BOOK 19If man is cruel by nature, cruel in action,the mortal world will call down curses on his head.

•Speak•Speakerer: Penelope



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BOOK 21Shame?...How can you hope for any public fame at all?You who disgrace, devour a great man's house and home!Why hang your heads in shame over next to nothing?

•Speak•Speakerer: Penelope


•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice, Glory and Honor


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Like an expert singer skilled at lyre and song –who strains a string to a new peg with ease,making the pliant sheep-gut fast at either end –so with his virtuoso ease Odysseus strung his mighty bow.


•Related themes•Related themes: Cunning, Disguise, and Self-Restraint, Gloryand Honor


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BOOK 22No fear of the gods who rule the skies up there,no fear that men's revenge might arrive someday –now all your necks are in the noose – your doom is sealed!





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BOOK 24What good sense resided in your Penelope –how well Icarius's daughter remembered you,Odysseus, the man she married once!The fame of her great virtue will never die.The immortal gods will lift a song for all mankind,a glorious song in praise of self-possessed Penelope.

•Speak•Speakerer: Agamemnon

•Mentioned or related char•Mentioned or related charactersacters: Odysseus, Penelope

•Related themes•Related themes: Piety, Customs, and Justice, Cunning,Disguise, and Self-Restraint, Memory and Grief, Glory andHonor


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Now that royal Odysseus has taken his revenge,let both sides seal their pacts that he shall reign for life,and let us purge their memories of the bloody slaughterof their brothers and their sons. Let them be friends,devoted as in the old days. Let peace and wealthcome cresting through the land.

•Speak•Speakerer: Zeus


•Related themes•Related themes: Fate, the Gods, and Free Will, Piety,Customs, and Justice, Memory and Grief, Glory and Honor


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The color-coded boxes under "Analysis & Themes" below makeit easy to track the themes throughout the work. Each color

SUMMARY & ANALSUMMARY & ANALYSISYSIS



corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themessection of this LitChart.

BOOK 1Homer begins by asking theMuse, the goddess of poetryand music, to sing to him aboutOdysseus and his travels.Odysseus and his crew haveseen many strange lands andhave suffered many trials.Their careless behavior hassometimes angered the gods,who have prevented their safereturn to Ithaca.

Like The Iliad, The Odysseybegins with a prayer to the Muse:the poet is a vessel for thegoddess's song. We learn thatsome combination of humanerror and divine will has delayedOdysseus's and his crew'shomecoming.

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"Start where you will," says thebard to the muse, and so thestory begins in the middle ofOdysseus's long journey homefrom Troy. The nymph Calypsohas held Odysseus captive forseven years on the islandOgygia, and the goddessAthena has come before anassembly of the gods to pleadfor his release. Odysseusangered the sea god Poseidon,who has been hinderingOdysseus's return to his homein Ithaca. Zeus declares thatPoseidon must forget hisgrievance and agrees to sendthe messenger god Hermes toOgygia to ensure Odysseus'srelease from captivity.

We learn that Athena favorsOdysseus, for some reason, andhas made it her mission to ensurehis safe return. Odysseus's fatehangs on Zeus's decision – willZeus respect Poseidon's anger oroverrule it? Zeus decides to spareOdysseus and sends Hermes toorder Calypso to releaseOdysseus from captivity: here,the gods interfere directly withOdysseus's life.

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Meanwhile, Athena Oies toIthaca to speak to Odysseus'sson Telemachus. Droves ofmen courting Odysseus's wifePenelope have been feastingfor years in Odysseus's court,pestering Penelope anddepleting the resources of theestate. Athena takes the shapeof Mentes, a friend ofOdysseus's father Laertes. SheNnds Telemachus sitting idly inthe midst of the festivities,dreaming of routing theinsolent suitors from theestate.

Athena usually takes humanform in her interactions withTelemachus, perhaps in order tomake her divine interventionsless conspicuous. The suitorsdishonor the house by insultingPenelope and stealingOdysseus's property, soTelemachus feels that it's hisduty to stop them: it is honorableto stop a dishonorable act.

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After Telemachus has givenAthena a proper welcome, shetells Telemachus thatOdysseus is still alive, and thathe is held captive on a farawayisland. She prophesies thatOdysseus will soon return tohis home. Telemachusdescribes the shame thesuitors have brought upon theestate. Athena advises that hegather a crew and sail to Pylosand then to Sparta in search ofinformation about Odysseus.She tells Telemachus that hemust avenge his father bykilling the suitors thatdishonor the estate, as PrinceOrestes avenged the death ofhis father Agamemnon bykilling his father's murderer.Telemachus thanks thestranger for the kind advice;his memory of Odysseusgrows vivid and his strengthincreases, and he thinks thatthe stranger must have been agod.

Telemachus carefully follows thecustoms of hospitality: he givesthe stranger food and drinkbefore asking his name. Hisconversation with Athenainvigorates him, but in what way?Does he simply feel encouragedby a stranger's prophecy andgood advice, or by a god'sprotection? Or does Athenamagically grant him increasedstrength and conBdence? AthenaconBrms Telemachus's sensethat it is his duty to drive out thesuitors. The memory of Odysseusstrengthens Telemachus's resolveto take action.

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Penelope comes down fromher chambers and asks thebard entertaining the suitorsto stop singing about theAchaeans' journey home,because the song brings hertoo much grief. Telemachusreproaches her; he remindsher that Zeus, not the bard, isresponsible for Odysseus'ssuffering. He tells her to havecourage, to listen to the bard'ssong, and to remember herhusband. Penelope obeys him,surprised by his good senseand strong will.

Telemachus's conversation withAthena has transformed him – hereproaches his mother for thesame kind of moping he wasengaging in earlier, and remindsher that memory can be a sourceof strength, not just a cause ofgrief. He tells her not to blamemen for something that is the willof the gods, thus shows respectto the gods.

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After Athena Oies away,Telemachus addresses thesuitors. He tells them to leavehis household at once, or Zeus,the god of hospitality, willpunish them for theirwrongdoings. He declares hisintentions to remain the lordof the estate in Odysseus'sabsence. The suitors areamazed at the prince'sconNdence and daring.Antinous responds that onlythe gods could giveTelemachus the power tospeak so courageously.Eurymachus adds that thegods alone decide who will ruleIthaca, and inquires about thestrange visitor. Telemachusreplies that the visitor wasMentes, a friend of Laertes,but he knows in his heart thatthe visitor was the goddessAthena.

Telemachus knows now thatAthena shares his sense of rightand wrong – of honor anddishonor – and so he addressesthe suitors with great conviction.He threatens them with thevengeance of the gods: men andgods both punish wrongdoings.The suitors try to belittleTelemachus by implying that he'sonly a pawn of the gods ratherthan a man with a will of his own.Telemachus displays cunning inhiding Athena's real identity fromthe suitors.

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BOOK 2Telemachus rises at dawn andgathers all the Achaeans tothe meeting grounds. Athenamakes him look particularlygod-like and striking.Telemachus describes to thecrowd the disgrace of hishousehold - the suitors thatdishonor his mother andconsume the house'sresources. He himself is only aboy: he lacks the strength andexperience to drive the suitorsfrom the house. He reproachesthe crowd for its indifference,threatens that the gods mayrevenge the suitors' crimes,and weeps with shame andanger.

Telemachus grows more andmore animated in his outrage,but he worries that he does nothave Odysseus's power – that hedid not inherit his glory.Nevertheless he has the strengthof the gods at his back. His griefand tears are not signs ofweakness, here, but signs ofdetermination: the grief will drivehim to take action.

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Antinous replies thatPenelope is to blame for thesuitors' behavior. Penelopepromised to choose a husbandonce she Nnished weaving ashroud for Laertes, but inorder to postpone the day ofdecision, she wove the shroudby day and unwove it at night.When one of her maidsbetrayed her secret to thesuitors, they forced her toNnish her web. Antinous claimsthat the suitors are justiNed intheir rude behavior becausePenelope tricked them, andbecause she refuses to choosea husband. Antinous suggestsand Telemachus sendPenelope back to her father,who would pick her husband

Penelope's trick is a perfectexample of cunning: unlikeOdysseus, who uses cunning totake action, Penelope usescunning to abstain from action –to postpone choosing a husband.Her duty is to wait for Odysseus,so her inaction is honorable. Byaccusing Penelope, Antinoustries to get honor on his side, buthis accusations are empty: herbehavior toward the suitors isnot dishonorable, so the suitorsare not justiBed.

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Telemachus responds that tosend Penelope back to herfather would be a disgrace, andwould meet with anger fromboth his family and the gods.He asks the suitors to heedtheir shame and to leave hishousehold, and threatensagain that the gods willrevenge their crimes. At thatmoment, Zeus sends an omenof the revenge Telemachusdescribes: two eagles thatcome down from themountains and tear each otherto pieces as they Oy over thecrowd. Halitherses, a prophet,interprets the omen to meandeath for the suitors.Eurymachus mocks theprophecy and the omen; hesays that the suitors will notstop their feasting until thequeen chooses a husband.

To exile Penelope from her homewould not be just, and injusticetoward honorable people ispunished by the gods – by thatlogic, the behavior of the suitorswill be surely punished. Zeus'somen strengthens Telemachus'sthreat. Some of the suitors scoffat the omen, which in itself is aninsult to Zeus. The suitors bullyand threaten Telemachus tofrighten him into submission, buttheir words don't affect him.

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Telemachus declares that hewill not discuss the matter anymore with the suitors. He asksthe Achaeans for a ship and acrew of twenty men to sail toPylos and Sparta in search ofnews about Odysseus. If hehears that his father is alive, hewill hold the suitors back foranother year; if he hears newsof his father's death, he willgive him a proper burial andencourage Penelope to marryagain. Odysseus's friendMentor reproaches the crowdfor their indifference andinaction in the face of thesuitors' violence, and remindsthem that Odysseus was a kindand godlike ruler. Leocritushushes Mentor and predictsthat the suitors would murderOdysseus even if he were toreturn. He breaks up theassembly.

No matter what news he learns,Telemachus resolves to do what'sright rather than sit by passively.Mentor emphasizes that theoffenses of the suitors are madeworse still by the fact that they'redishonoring a just, honorableman. The suitors continue toignore the will of the gods andfantasize about Odysseus'sdeath.

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After the meeting, Telemachusprays to Athena with a heavyheart. In the shape of Mentes,she tells Telemachus that fromnow on he will be ascourageous and clever as hisfather, and that he is sure tosucceed in his mission. Shetells him to pay no mind to thesuitors, who are surelydoomed, and to gatherprovisions for the trip; in themeantime, she will assemble acrew and choose a ship.Antinous encourages him tojoin the suitors' revelry, butTelemachus declares withrestored conNdence that hewill have nothing to do withthe suitors, and promises tobring destruction to theirparty. He ignores their insultsand provocations and goes tothe storeroom, where he askshis nurse Eurycleia to preparefood and drink for the journey.The nurse cries out in fear forhis life, but Telemachusassures her that a god iswatching over his mission, andasks her to keep his departuresecret from his mother for tendays.

When Telemachus feelsdiscouraged, Athena lifts hisspirits by describing his suresuccess. But is she predicting hissuccess, commanding it, orpromising it? To what degreedoes she predetermine the fatesof father and son? Telemachus'sstrength increases, and he speaksconBdently to the suitors and tohis nurse. He decides to hide hisdeparture from his mother tospare her some grief – an act ofcunning for an honorablepurpose.

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In the meantime, Athena walksthrough the town in the shapeof Telemachus: she gathers acrew of twenty men, whom sheasks to meet in the harbor atsundown, and borrows asturdy ship. She also bringssleep to the suitors, whostumble to bed. She callsTelemachus to the ship. Withrenewed energy, he commandsthe men to load the provisionsinto the storerooms. Athenatakes the pilot's seat and sendsthe ship a strongaccompanying wind. The crewpours wine in honor of Athenaand the other gods as the shipsails off into the night.

Here, Athena acts onTelemachus's behalf: sheinterferes directly, but masks herinterference. She uses sleep todisarm the suitors and to ensurea safe departure for Telemachus.She acts as pilot on the ship, butTelemachus, presumably, iscaptain: she takes an importantbut secondary role. The crewshows piety in drinking inAthena's honor.

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BOOK 3When Telemachus's shiparrives at Pylos the nextmorning, the crew Nnds 4500of Nestor's people sacriNcingbulls in honor of the godPoseidon. As the crew climbsashore, Athena urgesTelemachus to put his shynessaside and question Nestorabout Odysseus. The princeworries about his youth andinexperience, but Athenaassures him that the rightwords will come, with the helpof the gods. She leads him tothe place where Nestor and hisfriends and family sit roastingmeat.

Right away, we see that Nestorand the people of Pylos honorthe gods. We also note thatAthena continues to encourageTelemachus in his maturation.Her encouragement seems to behalf good faith, half divinemeddling: will the right wordscome because Telemachus ismore capable than he suspects,or because a god will place themthere?

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Nestor's son Pisistratus bringsTelemachus and his men meatand wine, and encouragesthem to say a prayer forPoseidon. With instinctivetact, Telemachus offers thewine to Athena Nrst, and sheasks Poseidon to grantTelemachus safe passagehome. Telemachus repeats herprayer, and they feast. Onlyafter they've Nnished doesNestor inquire about theiridentities. Telemachus explainsthat they've come to seeknews about Odysseus'sjourney or about his death.

The people of Pylos follow therules of hospitality by offeringthe strangers food and drinkwithout delay. These rulesacknowledge that a traveleroften needs to disguise hisidentity for one reason oranother, because they require ahost to give a stranger food andcomfort before asking for hisname.

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Nestor mentions the manymen whose deaths hewitnessed during the TrojanWar; he describes Odysseusas a man of unequalledcunning, and tells Telemachusthat his eloquence is similar toOdysseus's. After the fall ofTroy, Nestor says, Athenacreated a feud between thebrothers Menelaus andAgamemnon: Menelauswanted to return home atonce, but Agamemnon wantedto stay in Troy to offer AthenasacriNces. Half the men,Nestor included, left withMenelaus, but Odysseus andthe other half stayed withAgamemnon. Nestor returnedsafely to Pylos, but he knowsnothing about Odysseus's fate.Nestor mentions thatAegisthus murderedAgamemnon when the kingreturned home, and thatAgamemnon's son Orestesavenged the murder: Nestortells Telemachus to becourageous like Orestes.

Despite Telemachus's insecurity,his speech makes a goodimpression on the king; Nestorimplies that Telemachus's waywith words comes from his father(rather than a god). Nestor'sstory implies that the fates of allfour men in the story weredetermined by the feud, but itseems that Athena created thefeud for no particular reason: theactions of the gods often seemmysterious or arbitrary. Nestor'stale about Agamemnon andOrestes helps cementTelemachus's determination torestore honor to his household bydefeating the suitors.

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Telemachus tells Nestor thathe wishes the gods would givehim the power to wreakrevenge on the suitors feastingin his father's house. Nestorwonders whether Odysseuswill ever return to punish thesuitors, and echoesTelemachus in wishing for himthe affection of the gods.Telemachus says sadly that thiscan never be; but Athena (inthe shape of Mentes) chastiseshim for speaking foolishly.Telemachus repeats thatOdysseus will never return,because the gods have cursedhim. He asks Nestor to tellMenelaus's story – why did henot avenge his brother'sdeath?

Though Nestor seems toencourage Telemachus to takestrong, independent action,Telemachus emphasizes hisdependence on the gods. Nestoradmits that Telemachus needsthe good will of the gods tosucceed, and Athena implies thatTelemachus already possesses it.Be that as it may, saysTelemachus, the gods hateOdysseus, so his mission is notlikely to succeed. The passivity ofpiety seems to contradict thestrength of honorable action.

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Nestor says that Menelauswas still at Troy whenAegisthus seducedAgamemnon's wifeClytemnestra. She remainedfaithful to her husband as longas his bard was there to guardher; but Aegisthus sent thebard to die on a desert island,and Clytemnestra yielded toAegisthus, who made manygrateful sacriNces to thank thegods. In the meantime Zeusswept Menelaus to Egypt,where he spent seven yearsamassing a great treasure.Agamemnon returned home,but was murdered byAigisthus. After Aegisthus hadreigned for seven years overthe land of murderedAgamemnon, Orestes camehome and killed Aegisthus andClytemnestra; he avengedAgamemnon the very day thatMenelaus returned home.Nestor Nnishes his tale byadvising Telemachus not tostay away from his home fortoo long, and to visit Menelausin Lacedaemon.

Bards keep memories alive byrepeating stories, and Nestor'sstory implies that Agamemnon'sbard guarded Clytemnestra frominBdelity by keepingAgamemnon's memory alive inher. When the bard disappears,Clytemnestra forgets herhusband and betrays him. Thetreacherous Aegisthus showspiety by sacriBcing to the gods,but his piety cannot compensatefor his dishonorable behavior:the gods do not protect him fromOrestes' revenge.

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Athena suggests that it's timefor them to leave, but Nestorinsists on giving them gifts andputting them up for the night.Athena approves this requestbut says that she will sleep onthe ship and leave for anotherland at dawn; she turns into aneagle and Oies away. The kingis amazed; he tells Telemachusthat he will never be deNcientin character if he is so belovedby Athena. Nestor takesTelemachus back to his palaceand they drink to Athena, theneveryone goes to sleep.

When the king realizes thatTelemachus's companion is agod, he stops emphasizingTelemachus's eloquence and will,and focuses instead on theprince's dependence on the gods.It is pious to speak of god-humanrelationships in terms ofcomplete dependence, though itis honorable to follow one's ownconscience.

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The next day, Nestor holds afeast. When everyone isgathered, a goldsmith covers aheifer's horns in gold, Nestorpours purifying water andOings barley, and one of hissons chops through theheifer's neck. The women pray,the men drain the heifer'sblood, quarter it, and cut outand burn the thighbones. Theyeat the organs and roast theremaining meat. In themeantime, Nestor's daughterPolycaste bathes Telemachus,rubs him down with oil, anddresses him in beautifulclothes, so that he looks like agod. After everyone feasts,Nestor orders his sons to bringTelemachus a team of horsesand a chariot, and his sonPisistratus drives the teamtowards Sparta.

The feast shows that therequirements of piety can be veryelaborate and costly, and thatthey seem to vary slightly fromcountry to country. We can inferthat the gods care less about thedetails than about the fear andrespect that inspire people toinvent such complicated rituals.Nestor continues to show hishospitality to Telemachus byassigning tasks to his sons anddaughter. Just as he helped theguest arrive, he helps him todepart.

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BOOK 4Telemachus and Pisistratusarrive at Menelaus's palace,where the king is celebratingthe two separate marriages ofhis son and his daughter.Menelaus tells his aideEteoneus to invite thestrangers to feast with them;that way, he says, he can honorthe hospitality he receivedfrom strangers during histravels. Maids wash, oil, andclothe the travelers andpresent them with food andwine. Telemachus says toPisistratus that the splendor ofMenelaus's mansion mustresemble Olympus, butMenelaus notes that no mortalman could compare with Zeus.He describes his eight years oftravels, the wealth he amassed,and his bitterness about thedeath of his brother. He wouldrather have stayed home withonly a fraction of this wealth,he says, if it could reverse thedeaths of the soldiers in Troy.

Menelaus displays piety when heinsists that mortals are alwaysinferior to gods, instead ofemphasizing his unequalledtreasures. In this way, he choosespiety over glory. It is glorious todie in battle and to win greatwealth from enemies; Menelausrejects glory once again when hespeaks of the deaths of hiscomrades with regret and of hisplunder with indifference. Hisexperience teaches him that it isbetter to stay home and livehonorably than to seekadventure, risking death anddishonor for himself and hisloved ones.

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He grieves for all his comrades,Menelaus says, but he grievesfor Odysseus the most,because he worked thehardest but suffered the most.Telemachus cries to hear hisfather mentioned so tenderly,and Menelaus understandsthen that he's speaking toOdysseus's son. Menelaus'swife Helen comes out of herroom and asks about thevisitors; she guesses that oneof them is Telemachus. Theyagree that the young manresembles Odysseus in manyrespects, and PisistratusconNrms their identities.

Menelaus grieves especially forOdysseus, because it isparticularly unjust that such aclever and hardworking manshould suffer such a harshpunishment from the gods.Menelaus and Helen bothdisplay cunning in guessingTelemachus's identity: tears andgrief often serve to break throughanonymity and disguise.

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Helen slips a drug into thewine that makes the menforget their sorrows. She tellsthe guests about Odysseus'sconquest of Troy: he stole intothe city disguised as a beggar,killed many Trojans, andreturned to his army withuseful information about theenemy. Only Helen recognizedhim, but she didn't give awayhis secret, because by then shehad repented of her inNdelityand dreamed of coming hometo her husband and child.Menelaus praises herstorytelling and recounts howHelen tried to lure Odysseus'scomrades from the woodenhorse in which they hadpenetrated Troy by imitatingthe voices of the soldiers'wives. Odysseus held thesoldiers back and saved theirlives. After Menelaus Nnishesthe story, everyone retires todifferent rooms and goes tosleep.

Helen displays her cunning bothin guessing Telemachus's identityand in tricking the men intopleasant forgetfulness. Theforgetfulness is not dangerousonly because it is a company offriends. She had been cunning inTroy as well by taking on theidentities of other women, just asOdysseus had been cunning bytaking on the identity of a beggar.In both stories, Odysseus'scunning is pitted against Helen'scunning, but in both cases hecomes out on top; perhaps Helendamaged her luck by betrayingher husband and dishonoringherself.

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In the morning, Menelaus asksTelemachus whether he hascome to discuss a public or aprivate problem. Telemachusdescribes the suitors'disgraceful behavior and begsMenelaus to tell him all heknows about Odysseus. Theking tells Telemachus that thegods trapped him in stillwaters by the island Pharos inpunishment for an inadequatesacriNce. When the crew'sprovisions had run out,Menelaus encounteredEidothea, Proteus's daughter,who decided to help him. Sheadvised him to surpriseProteus by disguising himselfand three other men as seals,hiding in the cave in whichProteus slept, and ambushinghim when he lay down to rest.Proteus will take manydifferent shapes, she told him,but if they hold on to him untilhe speaks he will tell them howto cross the sea and returnhome.

Telemachus does not giveMenelaus a clear answerbecause the problem is bothpublic and private: the honor ofthe realm and Telemachus'shonor are both at stake. Theking's story implies that he didnot always respect the gods, andthat his trials have taught himmodesty and piety. A goddesshelps him escape hispredicament by using trickeryand disguise. The gods respecttactics of this kind – Zeus himselfoften took other shapes forvarious reasons.

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At dawn, Eidothea ledMenelaus and three othermen to Proteus's resting placeand covered them withsealskins. Proteus soonappeared, the men ambushedhim, and Proteus then took theshape of a lion, a serpent, apanther, a boar, a stream ofwater, and a tree. Yet the menheld on to him until he beganto speak. Menelaus asked howhe could escape Pharos andreturn home. Proteus advisedthat Menelaus return to Egyptand offer grand sacriNces tothe gods. Proteus also told himthat Ajax died at the hands ofPoseidon, and Agamemnon atthe hands of Aegisthus.Odysseus, Proteus said, wastrapped on Calypso's island.The next dawn Menelaus andhis men set out for Egypt,where they made glorioussacriNces to the gods. The godsthen allowed them to returnhome safely.

Proteus tries to Bght Menelaus'scunning with his own cunning,but the king eventually gets hisway. Though the gods are verypowerful, they must sometimesyield to mortals – especially ifmortals employ god-like cunning.Cunning is a quality that narrowsthe gap between the mortal andthe divine. Though Menelausmust feel powerful to havedefeated a god, he also learns toshow piety and respect towardthe gods. Power and humility gohand in hand.

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As Telemachus and Menelausfeast at the king's palace, thesuitors feast and amusethemselves in Odysseus'spalace. Antinous andEurymachus Nnd out from acitizen that Telemachus hassailed to Pylos with a strongcrew and a god on board. Thesuitors are outraged and plotto murder the prince on hisway back home. The courtherald Medon overhears theirplans and describes them toPenelope. The queen isgrieved to learn ofTelemachus's absence; sheprays to Athena to save herson, and Athena hears herprayers.

Menelaus's piety and hospitalitycontrast sharply with the callousimpiety of the suitors. The suitorsare impious to plot against a manthat is loved by the gods (not tomention whose hospitality theyare abusing), because they arepitting their wills against the willsof the gods. Penelope, on theother hand, respects divine willby asking for Athena's help.

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Meanwhile, the suitors gathera crew of twenty men andprepare a ship. Penelope lies inbed tormented; when she fallsasleep, Athena sends aphantom in the shape ofPenelope's sister to reassureher that her son is underAthena's protection. Penelopequestions the phantom aboutOdysseus, but the phantomrefuses to speak. The suitorssail to the island Asteris, andlie in wait to catch the princeon his way home.

Athena responds to Penelope'sprayer by giving her rest andcomfort. Though Athena assuresPenelope of Telemachus's safety,she cannot say anything aboutOdysseus: perhaps there is alimit to the knowledge permittedto mortals, because certain kindsof knowledge interfere with fate.

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BOOK 5The gods assemble on mountOlympus. Athena imploresZeus to help Odysseus, whowas such a kind and just ruler,and is now trapped inCalypso's house without anyway home. Zeus instructsAthena to bring Telemachushome unharmed, and tells themessenger god Hermes to tellCalypso to release Odysseusfrom captivity. Zeus decreesthat Odysseus will sail homewith great pain and difNculty,and that he will arrive at theland of the Phaeacians, whowill speed him home with vasttreasures in tow.

Athena criticizes Odysseus'spainful lot, implying that thegods ought to reward just rulers.Just as the gods are notomnipotent in the Judeo-Christian sense, they are not all-knowing, or at least the scope oftheir attention is limited:sometimes a god needs to pointanother god in the direction of aproblem. This gives a touch ofarbitrariness to the actions of thegods.

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Hermes Oies to Calypso'sisland, where the goddesssings and weaves by a Nre inher cavern in the woods.Odysseus sits on the beachand cries. Hermes tellsCalypso that Zeus commandsher to release Odysseus. Inresponse, Calypso angrilyshouts that the gods becomejealous when goddesses sleepwith mortals, though theyoften sleep with mortalwomen. She says that sheloves Odysseus as a husbandand has even offered to makehim immortal. Nevertheless,she agrees to let him go.

It is clear from Odysseus'sweeping that he is an unwillingcaptive and has not forgotten hisdesire to return home eventhough Calypso has offered himimmortality. Calypso's tiradeabout the divine double standardshows that Mount Olympus isruled by jealousies, passions,squabbles, power-struggles, andhierarchies, just like the earthbelow.

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Though Odysseus sleeps withCalypso, he weeps for his wifeand home. Calypso comes tohim and tells him to weep nolonger, because she is sendinghim home. Odysseus issuspicious, so Calypso swearsan oath not to harm him.Odysseus and Calypso sharean exquisite meal. Calypsowarns him that if he knew thesuffering ahead of him, hewould stay with her and be herimmortal husband; after all,she cannot be less fair than hiswife. Odysseus replies thatthough Penelope is not as fairas Calypso, he still yearns forhome. They fall asleep in eachother's arms.

Odysseus's grief and tears showthat his memory of home has notfaded; though Calypso has forcedhim into the role of a husband, heremains loyal at heart to his wife.Odysseus chooses mortalsuffering and imperfection overdivine tranquility. Thoughmortals often acknowledge theirinferiority to the gods, it issometimes implied that theyprefer human life to divine life.

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The next morning, Odysseussets to work making a raft withthe goddess's tools. When heNnishes, Calypso gives himprovisions and he sails away.He sails for seventeen daysuntil he sees the island of thePhaeacians. But at thatmoment Poseidon spots himand grows angry at his goodfortune, so he sends down aterrible storm. Odysseusbegins to fears death, andwishes he had died a hero'sdeath on the battleNeldinstead. A wave throws himfrom the ship and pulls himunder, but he comes up to thesurface and clutches hissplintering raft. Just then, thegoddess Ino sees him andtakes pity; she gives him amagical scarf that willtemporarily make himimmortal, and tells him to swimto shore – once he reachesland, though, he must throwthe scarf back into the seawithout looking. Odysseusdoes as she says, and Poseidondecides that Odysseus hassuffered enough and lets himgo. Athena controls the windsso that they blow Odysseus tothe Phaeacian shore.

Though Odysseus has alreadysuffered a great deal on hisjourney home, Poseidon decides–following no strict logic – thathe must suffer further. Poseidonis angry because Odysseus brokea rule, but the punishment is amatter not of rule but of whim.With Ino's arrival, we see onceagain one divine will pittedagainst another. Poseidon wantsOdysseus to suffer or drown, butIno wants him to Bnd shelter, andshe prevails not according tosome judicial system but becauseof chance and circumstance: shehappens to be near Odysseus.Poseidon might have resentedher intervention, but he acceptsit placidly. Justice in divine handsis often arbitrary.

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Odysseus Ooats for two nightsand two days, and at the dawnof the third day he spots land.He despairs to see, however,that waves and sharp rocksseparate him from shore. Awave throws him against therocks, but Athena inspires himwith the strength to cling hardto one of the reefs; then awave drags him back into thesea. Athena inspires him again,and he swims along the shorelooking for a safer place toland. He prays to Poseidon,and the god brings him to asafe place to climb ashore.Odysseus throws himself ontothe beach; despite his pain andexhaustion, he remembers tothrow the scarf back into thesea. He crawls into the woodsand falls asleep.

Though Poseidon decides to letOdysseus live, he takes one lastparting shot at him and Cingshim against the rocks. Athenaintervenes and helps him survive:divine will pitted against divinewill once again. Now Poseidon isBnally placated; he helps thesame man he tried to kill just amoment earlier. Odysseus showshis respect for the gods byfollowing Ino's instructions eventhough he can barely move.

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BOOK 6As Odysseus sleeps, AthenaOies to a Phaeacian city wherethe princess Nausicaa,daughter of the king Alcinous,lies sleeping. Disguised as a girlthe princess's age, Athenascolds her for the poorcondition of her clothes, andsuggests that they go to theshore to wash them. In themorning, the king gives her awagon and a team of mules,the queen packs her a lunchand some olive oil for applyingafter bathing, and she goeswith her maids to the beachwhere Odysseus lies sleeping.They wash the clothes, bathe,and oil themselves. As theywait for their clothes to drythey play games in the sun.

Athena intervenes in Odysseus'sfate, but indirectly – instead ofcarrying Odysseus to thePhaeacian castle herself, orbetter yet winging him right toIthaca, she acts by inCuencinganother mortal. Moreover, sheinCuences the princess in thedisguise of a mortal: though herrole in Odysseus's fate is verysigniBcant, she takes pains tomask that role wheneverpossible, muddying the questionof whether those mortals act byfree will or divine inCuence.

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By Athena's design, the girlsromping wakes Odysseus. He'sa little apprehensive at Nrstbut he walks out toward them,shielding himself with leaves.All the girls except Nausicaarun away at the sight of thenaked, sea-briny man.Odysseus stands at arespectful distance,compliments her beauty, andbegs her for help. The princessresponds that Zeus must havedestined Odysseus for pain,but agrees to lead him to town,because it is customary to befriendly to strangers andbeggars. Odysseus bathes, oils,and clothes himself, andAthena makes him verybeautiful. The girls are amazedat the transformation; theygive him food and drink.

Athena not only brings theprincess to the shore whereOdysseus lies but makes hershouts loud enough to wake him:she is present in the smallestdetails. In the princess'sresponse, we see two customs inconCict: on the one hand, oneshould assume that an unluckyperson is hated by the gods andtherefore does not deserve help;on the other hand, one shouldhelp strangers and beggars.Nausicaa chooses to honor thelatter.

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Nausicaa invites Odysseus toride into town with her, but onsecond thought asks him toenter the town alone, to avoidgiving the townspeople causefor gossip. On the way to town,she says, Odysseus shouldturn into a grove near herfather's estate and wait for thegirls to reach town. Then heshould walk into the palace,Nnd the king and queen, andbeg the queen for mercy.Odysseus does as she says; inthe grove, he prays forAthena's protection. She hearshis prayers, but she is toofrightened of Poseidon toappear to Odysseusundisguised.

Nausicaa shows good sense byhonoring customs dictatingproper behavior for unmarriedyoung women. Because of heruncertainty about the stranger,Nausicaa decides to let her moreexperienced parents make theBnal decision. Here, we seeanother possible reason forAthena's reticence: she does notwant to provoke Poseidon'sanger. She does what she thinksis right but she uses cunning toavoid conCict.

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BOOK 7As Odysseus walks toward thecity, Athena surrounds himwith a protective mist.Disguised as a little girl, sheguides him to the castle. Shetells Odysseus to be bold andadvises him to win the queenArete's sympathies, becauseher judgment holds muchweight in the kingdom.Odysseus marvels atAlcinous's fruitful realm andluxurious household. He goesinside the palace, where manypeople are feasting, and putshis arms around Arete's knees– at that moment, the mistaround him dissipates. Heblesses her family and begs herfor safe passage home.

Athena hides herself andOdysseus from the Phaeacians;she uses cunning to avoidconfrontation, though openbattle is considered glorious. Inhis behavior with the king andqueen, Odysseus choosescunning and humility over glory.Rather than announce hisfamous name and Caunt hisstrength and nobility, Odysseusabases himself in front of thequeen.

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Alcinous sits Odysseus downnext to him, Odysseus eats anddrinks, and they all raise theirwine glasses to Zeus. Alcinoustells the lords that they willconvene tomorrow to sacriNceto the gods and arrange thestranger's journey home. Hewonders whether the strangermight be a god; the behavior ofthe gods has changed – theyused to come to mortalsundisguised. Odysseusresponds that he is onlymortal, weighed down withmortal suffering, and regretsthat he must eat despite hisgrief: hunger eases hismemory. He begs to beconveyed home – all he wantsis to see his home and familyagain, and to die happily.

Odysseus emphasizes thedistinction between differentkinds of desire when hecomplains that the ignoble desirefor food replaces the noble desirefor home. Note also how onceagain a mortal is almostmistaken for a god: Alcinousimplies the world is changing,and the distinction between godsand mortals seems to be eroding.Why have the gods become moresecretive, more circumspect? Theanswer isn't clear.

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As the servants clear away theplates, Arete notices thatOdysseus is wearing clothesfrom her household, and asksabout them suspiciously.Odysseus tells her a fullerversion of his story, then: hedescribes his entrapment onCalypso's island, his escapeand difNcult journey, and hisencounter with Nausicaa –how she gave him clothes anddirected him to the castle. Heclaims that it was his idea notto accompany the princess intothe city. Alcinous wishes thatsuch a man as Odysseus couldstay in Phaeacia and wedNausicaa. He tells Odysseusthat he will arrange that a shipwill carry him home thefollowing morning.

Odysseus is not averse to a whitelie, here and there: though theplan for entering the city was theprincess's, he takes the credit.But he also knows when toloosen his disguise and reveal abit more about himself. When thequeen becomes suspicious,Odysseus appeases her withhonesty and openness. To becunning, one must sometimes behonest.

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BOOK 8At dawn, Athena in the guiseof Alcinous gathers people tothe meeting grounds. Wheneveryone arrives, Alcinousasks his people to bring a shipdown to the sea and to Nnd acrew of Nfty-two men totransport Odysseus home;everyone else, he says, shouldgather to feast and celebrate.After everyone eats anddrinks, the bard Demodocussings about the battle betweenOdysseus and Achilles. Thesong moves Odysseus to tears.Though Odysseus hides hisweeping under his cape,Alcinous notices the tears andurges the guests to move on toathletic competitions.

Just as Telemachus's tears revealhis identity to Menelaus,Odysseus's tears give him awayto Alcinous. Though it beneBtsOdysseus to keep his identityhidden for the time being, it ishonorable to weep for his deadcomrades: he chooses honor,memory and grief over prudence,or perhaps the emotions or sostrong he just can't hide them..

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Everyone goes to the meetinggrounds, where the strongestand most talented men getready to compete. There is afootrace, followed bywrestling, jumping, and discus-throwing. Laodamas invitesOdysseus to join thecompetition, but Odysseusdeclines, citing his longsuffering and exhaustion.Broadsea, another champion,taunts Odysseus, claiming thathe must not be skilled inathletics. This angersOdysseus, and he agrees tocompete in the games.

Odysseus initially refuses to jointhe games out of prudence, sincehis strength and skill might giveaway his identity. But he can'ttolerate an insult: his desire forglory, and its accompanyingintolerance to shame, overtakehis prudent desire to hide hisidentity

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He takes up the discus andthrows it farther than anyother competitor; Athena indisguise praises him and goadshim on, and Odysseus boaststhat he'll defeat anyone in thecrowd in any sport – anyoneexcept the king, because he isOdysseus's host. Alcinousadmits that Odysseus's angeris reasonable, and tells himthat the Phaeacians do notexcel in all sports but aremasters of racing and sailing,and feasting as well, and tellshis court dancers to begindancing.

Odysseus gets his Bll of praisewhen he displays his strength.But even in his quest for athleticglory, Odysseus remembers to bepolite to his host—he manages toboth pursue honor and glory andto remain pious, a tricky task thatmany men who don't haveOdysseus's skill at self-restrainfail to accomplish.

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Meanwhile, the bard tells thestory of Ares and Aphrodite.Aphrodite, the goddess of love,was unfaithful to her goldsmithhusband Hephaestus withAres, the god of war. WhenHephaestus learned of theinNdelity from Helios, the godof the sun, he created very Nnegold chains that he slippedaround the posts ofAphrodite's bed. He pretendedto leave for a trip, and whenAres and Aphrodite went tobed together the near-invisiblechains trapped them in eachother's arms. WhenHephaestus found them hecried out in anguish and all thegods gathered at his house,laughing at the unusual sight.The gods laughed because thecrippled Hephaestus defeatedthe powerful god of war. OnlyPoseidon can convinceHephaestus to free Ares.

The story of Hephaestus andAres is a variant on the parable ofthe weak outwitting the strong:though Hephaestus is crippled,he traps the mighty god of war.The gold chains represent thepower of the mind: they areinvisible and Bne but inBnitelystrong. The episode resemblesOdysseus's encounter with theCyclops, whom he defeats usingcunning despite his inferiorstrength. Though Hephaestus issimilarly cunning, his physicalweakness disqualiBes him fromglory, so the gods laugh at himinstead of praising him.

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After the story ends,Alcinous's best dancersperform, and Odysseus isamazed at their skill. Alcinouscalls on the twelve peers of hiskingdom to gather Nne partinggifts for Odysseus. Broadseagives Odysseus a beautifulsword to apologize for histaunts, and Odysseusgraciously accepts the apology.Queen Arete gives Odysseus atrunk of Nne clothes, and themaids give him a bath. He talksto Nausicaa, who teasinglyreminds him that he owes herhis life. Then he joins Alcinousat the table.

Though Odysseus has actedproudly and perhaps evenvaingloriously, he generouslypraises the dancers and easilyforgives his offender. He can turnit on and off; he has self-restraint,and acts appropriately at alltimes. Just as Calypsorepresented a temptation forOdysseus to give up his quest toreturn home, so does the Cirting,beautiful, young Nausicaa, butOdysseus desire to return homeis not swayed.

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The bard Demodocusdescribes how the woodenhorse full of Achaean soldierssecretly entered Troy, and howthe Achaeans burst from thehorse and defeated theTrojans; the bard mentions theparticular courage ofOdysseus and Menelaus.Odysseus cries to hear thetale. Only Alcinous notices histears, and he asks the bard tostop singing. He urgesOdysseus to Nnally reveal hisidentity and to explain histears.

Odysseus grieves for the soldiersdead in battle, but perhaps healso grieves for his own pastglory: the grief is a mixture of thehonorable and the dishonorable(self-pity is not an honorablereason for tears). ThoughAlcinous asks the stranger hisname, he has likely alreadyguessed it.

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BOOK 9Odysseus names himself andbegins telling the story of hislong travels after leaving Troy.In the beginning of the journey,he and his men sacked the cityof the Cicones and carriedaway many spoils; Odysseuswanted to leave, but his mendecided to stay and plunderand feast. Meanwhile theCicones called their neighborsfor backup, and the expandedarmy killed many Achaeansbefore the rest escaped. Zeussent down a hurricane, themen rested for two days, andthen a North wind sent theships in the wrong direction.

The story of the Cicones is aparable about moderation. If themen had restrained theirbloodlust, they could haveescaped with spoils and theirlives. Instead, their greed led tomany deaths (and in so doingforeshadows the suitors atIthaca). The story also displaysone of the stranger aspects ofancient law: though men havethe right to attack and plunderother men, they should onlyplunder to a point: plunderingexcessively is dishonorable.

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After nine days, the shipsreached the land of the LotusEaters. There, the crewmenthat ate the fruit of lotus lostall desire to return and allmemory of home – they onlywanted to stay and eat lotus.But Odysseus forced them toreturn to the ships, tied themto the masts, and told theremaining men to set sail.

This story perfectly illustrates theconnection between memoryand desire: to lose the memory ofa desired object – eithermagically or naturally – is to losethe impetus for action.

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Next they came to the land ofthe Cyclops. The one-eyedCyclops have no laws, nocouncils, no farms, no ships ortraders. Odysseus and thecrew from his ship went toexplore the continent whilethe other men waited on anearby island. When the menreached the shore, they saw alarge cave with Oocks of sheepand goats in the yard: thehome of a giant. Odysseus leftmost of his crew on shore andwent with twelve men to thecave, taking along a containerof very strong wine. The giantwas not at home, and the crewlooked at his Oocks, hischeeses, and his buckets formilking. The men wanted totake what they could and runback to the ships, butOdysseus insisted that theystay to receive the giant's gifts(thought now, he tells thePhaeacians, he regrets hisstubbornness).

The Cyclops are a people outsideof civilization: they do notrecognize any human or divinejustice, nor do they have any sortof social structures (such asfarms or councils). This episodeshows the dark side ofOdysseus's vainglory: his greedand his thirst for adventureovertake his good sense and costseveral men their lives. ThoughOdysseus is the hero of the story,he is far from infallible.Sometimes he is more sensiblethan his men; sometimes less.Though by voicing regretOdysseus also shows that he haslearned from his errors.

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In the evening the Cyclopscame home, closed theentrance to the cave with agiant rock, milked his sheepand goats, and lit a Nre.Suddenly he noticed the menand asked them angrily whothey were. Odysseusresponded that they wereAchaeans that had lost theirway home, and urged theCyclops, whose name wasPolyphemus, to obey custom,respect the rules of the gods,and receive them generously.Polyphemus scoffed atOdysseus's warnings and saidthat his kind doesn't fear Zeusor any other god. He promptlybashed two men dead againstthe ground and ate themgruesomely. Odysseus wantedto kill Polyphemus there andthen, but realized that if hekilled Polyphemus he and hismen would have no way out ofthe cave, since only the giantcould roll back the huge rockblocking the entrance. So theylay there all night in the cave interror.

Odysseus relied on the Cyclopsto respect the same rules of pietythat govern men (though onecould also argue that Odysseuswas also driven by a vaingloriousdesire to seek adventure). TheCyclops, though, show no pietyto the gods, but he is no meremortal – as the son of a god, helives under different rules. Ratherthan give his "guests" a feast, theCyclops feasts on them. ThoughOdysseus shows lack of self-restraint in the beginning of thisepisode, he shows good senseand self-restraint in delaying hisdesire for revenge. His goodsense is cold-blooded, though,because he must realize that if hepostpones action the giant willeat more of his men.

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At dawn Polyphemus lit theNre, milked his sheep, and atetwo more men for breakfast.He then left for the day,shutting the entrance of thecave behind him with the hugerock. Meanwhile Odysseusplotted revenge. He tookPolyphemus' club and his menNled it down to a point andsinged it at the end. At duskPolyphemus returned, milkedhis sheep and goats, and atetwo more men for dinner.Odysseus offered Polyphemushis strong wine, andPolyphemus drank threebowls. As the giant becamedrunk, Odysseus mentionedthat his own name wasNobody. In thanks for thewine, Polyphemus promised toeat him last and fell asleep,vomiting human Oesh. Seeingtheir chance, Odysseus andfour other men heated up thesharpened club and used it togouge out the Cyclops' eye.Polyphemus screamed inagony, and other Cyclopsrushed up to his cave andasked who was hurting him.The Cyclops yelled ‘Nobody,'so they walked away.Odysseus was delighted thathis trick succeeded.

Odysseus does not overpowerthe giant but uses cunning tostrike him where he is weakest(which turns out to be both hiseye and his mind, as Polyphemusis not the brightest fellow).During his plan, Odysseus feignsfriendliness and helplessness: hiscunning hinges on his playacting,his capacity to disguise hisintentions. He pretends tohumble himself before theCyclops so that the giant acceptsthe wine without suspicion. Thefalse name, with its implied self-deprecation, symbolizes theking's talent for disguise.

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Next, Odysseus plotted theirescape. He arranged the ramsin the cave in groups of threeand lashed a man to the bellyof each middle ram; he lashedhimself to the belly of theremaining old ram. At dawn,when Polyphemus let the ramsout of the cave, the menescaped too. Once outside thecave, Odysseus untied himselfand his men and they allhurried to the ships. Whenthey were out on the water,Odysseus yelled back toPolyphemus that Zeus haspunished him for his crimes. Inresponse, the furiousPolyphemus broke off the topof a cliff and threw it in thedirection of the ship, so that awave drove the ship back toshore. Once they were at asafe distance again, Odysseusyelled back again to say that itwas he, Odysseus, that blindedthe Cyclops, if anyone shouldask.

Even the Bnal part of Odysseus'splan relates to the idea ofdisguise: the Cyclops only lets themen pass because he takes themfor rams. Odysseus initial boastto Polyphemus is both pious andcareful: he credits thepunishment to the gods, almostas though any human action isguided the divine hand in somesense. But Odysseus's prudencegives out in his second boast: incalling out his name, he yields tohis desire for glory: it is notenough to punish the Cyclops forhis cruelty and injustice –Odysseus must have the fame ofthe deed as well. But in callingout his name, Odysseus alsomakes himself vulnerable.

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Polyphemus remembered thata prophet once told him thathe would be blinded bysomeone named Odysseusand called out to his fatherPoseidon to exact revenge: heprayed that Odysseus shouldnever reach home, or that heshould reach home alone andafter great suffering. TheCyclops threw another rock,and the resulting wave threwthe ship back to the islandwhere the rest of the crew satwaiting. Odysseus divided upthe stolen sheep, but heslaughtered the old ram inZeus's honor. However, thesacriNce did not appease thegod. The men slept anddeparted at dawn.

Though Polyphemus doesn't hidehis disrespect for the gods, hisfather Poseidon still heeds hisprayers – the children ofimmortals are not subject thesame requirements as mortals.Odysseus's respect for Zeus doesnot carry the same weight as theCyclops' offense. The prophecycalls Odysseus's free will intoquestion: if the assault was fated,do the gods simply use Odysseusto act out a pre-written script?

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BOOK 10Odysseus continues his storyto the Phaeacians: The men'snext stop was the Aeolianisland, home to the god of thewinds. They stayed withAeolus for a month, and hisparting gift to Odysseus was asack holding the winds. Aeolusfreed the West Wind to blowOdysseus's ship toward home,the men sailed for nine days,and on the tenth they caughtsight of Ithaca's shores. Justthen, Odysseus fell asleepfrom exhaustion. His crewbecame suspicious that thetied up bag Odysseus hadgotten from Aeolus containeda great treasure he wasn'tsharing, so they untied it to seewhat was inside and in doingso freed the winds. Odysseuswoke and watched in despairas the winds blew them backout to sea and then to Aeolus'sisland.

Even gods like Aeolus follow thelaws of hospitality: they welcomeguests and give parting gifts. Inthis episode, the men themselves(rather than the gods) delay theirhomecoming. But there is still asense of justice at play: one cansay that fate punishes thecrewmen for their dishonorable,unjustiBed suspicions of theircaptain, not to mention theirinability to show some self-restraint. The episode alsoillustrates the dangers of sleepand forgetfulness.

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Odysseus begged Aeolus forhelp, but Aeolus believed thatOdysseus's misfortune provedthat he was hated by the gods,and turned him away. Therewas no wind to help them, sothe men had to row; afterseven days, they reached theisland of the Laestrygonians.Odysseus sent a few men toinvestigate – were theinhabitants civilized people ormonsters? They met a princessat a well, and she sent theminside her father's palace. Theysaw an enormous queen, whocalled over her husbandAntiphates; he walked in andate one of Odysseus's men, butthe other two Oed. TheLaestrygonians ate most ofOdysseus's crew, but one shipescaped.

Aeolus's response shows theways in which chance isconCated with fate, luck withjustice. If someone is unlucky, hewas believed to have wrongedthe gods: nothing is random,though most things seemrandom. And it seems that badluck, in this world, attracts morebad luck: it seems quiteimprobable that Odysseus's shipshould encounter twocannibalistic cultures in suchquick succession.

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Odysseus and his single shipsailed on, and anchored onCirce's island. They rested fortwo days, and Odysseus wentout and killed a deer to feed hismen. They feasted and slept.The next morning, Odysseustold the men that he sawsmoke rising somewhere in themiddle of the island, and themen cried out in fear of theinhabitants of the island.Odysseus responded thatcrying does them no good, andsends half his men toinvestigate. When the mencame to Circe's palace, theyheard her singing as sheweaved. They called out to herand walked in – all butEurylochus. She welcomedthem to her table, but shemixed a potion into their foodthat erased their memories ofhome and turned them intopigs.

The men cry not in honor ofabsent or departed friends, but infear for their own lives: asOdysseus points out, this kind ofgrief is neither useful norhonorable. When Circe erasesthe men's memories, she turnsthem into pigs at once: we mightinterpret this to mean that aperson without memories,without desires and goals, is likean animal: a person stripped ofthe most important humanqualities.

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Eurylochus ran back to theship and told Odysseus thatthe men vanished into thepalace and did not return.Odysseus set off for thepalace, but before he reachedits doors he met Hermes, whowas disguised as a young man.The god gave him a drug calledmoly that would make himimmune to Circe's potion.When Circe touches you withher wand, the god advised, runat her with your sword untilshe backs away in fear andinvites you to her bed. The godtold Odysseus to accept thegoddess's offer, but only aftershe swore a binding oath notto hurt him.

Odysseus's encounter withHermes is another apparentlyrandom divine intervention.Earlier in the book, Hermes actedon behalf of Zeus; but Odysseusis not at this moment in Zeus'sfavor, so Hermes appears to beacting of his own accord. Again,the intervention is indirect:Hermes does not disable Circe orgrant Odysseus magic powers –he uses the plant as anintermediary.

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When Odysseus walked intoCirce's palace, everythinghappened just as Hermespredicted, and Circe thenguessed that the strangermust be Odysseus. When theyretired to bed, Circe's maidsprepared a bath and a feast.But Odysseus was tootroubled to eat, so Circetransformed his crew fromswine to men again. Odysseusreturned to his ship to hide hiscargo in caves and to call therest of his crew back to thepalace. Eurylochus urged themen to depart right then,instead of rushing into asituation that might be a trap;he reminded them of the menthat died in Polyphemus's cavebecause of Odysseus's poorjudgment. But the menfollowed Odysseus,Eurylochus included.

Though Odysseus acts honorablyin following Hermes' advice,because it enables him to savehis crewmen, it is an idea ofhonor that lies uneasily with ourown: he threatens a woman withviolence until she offers herself tohim. (Odysseus's sleeping aroundalso doesn't seem like the act of aman who is so desperate toreturn to his wife, but somethings you just have to chalk upto different times.) As Eurylochuspoints out, Odysseus's decisionto return to the palace is riskyand unwarranted. PerhapsOdysseus is Cattered by thegoddess's attention: it is gloriousto have a goddess for a lover.

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The men stayed on the islandfor a year, living in luxury, butafter a year the crew grewincreasingly restless and Nnallyconvinced Odysseus that itwas time to leave. Circeadvised him to go down to theland of the dead to speak tothe ghost of Tiresias, a blindprophet.

Odysseus, here, is guilty of thecrime of forgetfulness in thepleasures of Circe's palace: thecrew has to remind him of hisdesire for home. Again, here, wesee that though the gods arepowerful they are not all-knowing: Circe herself cannot tellOdysseus how to return home, soshe sends him to see Tiresias. Thelimits to the power andknowledge of the gods perhapsallow some room for human freewill.

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Circe told him to Nnd the spotwhere the River of Fire and theRiver of Tears meet, to dig atrench there, to pour milk andhoney, wine, and water for thedead, to sprinkle barley; Nnally,she said, he must promise thedead to kill a heifer when hereturned to of Ithaca and toslaughter a black ram forTiresias. Afterwards,Odysseus must slaughter aram and an ewe with his headturned away. Only then will theshades emerge. At thatmoment, Odysseus's crewmust burn the corpses whileOdysseus keeps the shadesaway from blood; then Tiresiaswill appear and advise him howto complete his journey home.

Though the men make the choiceto leave the island, they mustblindly follow Circe's bizarreadvice. Their actions are amixture of free will andobedience.

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As Odysseus and his crewwoke the next morning todepart, they discovered thatElpenor, the youngest memberof the crew, had gotten drunkthe night before, slept on theroof, and when he woke in themorning at the sound of theother men working he fell offthe roof and broke his neck.Odysseus explained theircoming journey to theunderworld, and the men weredisappointed to learn howcomplicated the trip will be.

Elpenor is an example of a lack ofself-restraint—he gets so drunkhe goes to sleep in a dangerousplace and kills himself by wakingup. The men's reaction to theirjourney shows how they don'tseek glory any longer, they justwant to get home.

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BOOK 11Odysseus continues telling histale to Alcinous and thePhaeacians. When he and hismen reached the entrance tothe world of the dead, they didexactly as Circe said: they duga trench, offered libations, andsacriNced a ewe and a ram.Thousands of ghosts appearedwhen the blood startedOowing. The Nrst ghost thatapproached them wasElpenor. He asked Odysseusto bury him and grieve for himproperly when the crewreturned to Aeaea, andOdysseus gladly agreed. Thenext ghost was Anticleia,Odysseus's mother, butOdysseus did not let even herapproach the blood.

Even ghosts in the land of thedead concern themselves withearthly custom: Elpenor caresabove all that he receive properburial rites. When Odysseusmeets the ghost of his mother, wesee the degree to which he iswilling to sacriBce personalfeeling to prudence and piety: heholds his own mother at bay inorder to follow Circe'sinstructions.

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Finally Tiresias appeared.Once he drank the blood of theslaughtered animals, he toldOdysseus that his journeyhome would be full of trouble:Odysseus had angeredPoseidon by blindingPoseidon's son, the CyclopsPolyphemus. The men willreach home, said Tiresias, ifthey leave the Cattle of theSun unharmed. If they kill thecattle, Odysseus will comehome alone. But beforesettling down in peace, he willhave to make one more voyageto a land far away from any seaand make sacriNces to appeasePoseidon. Only then will hislong travels come to an end.

In Tiresias's prophecy, we see acertain logic in divine justice: themen have harmed somethingdear to the gods, so to savethemselves they must refrainfrom harming something elsedear to the gods (the Cattle), nomatter the cost. And yet now theOdysseus and his men's fate hasbeen told clearly, so is whathappens to fulBll the prophecyfate or free will?

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Odysseus asked Tiresias howto speak to the ghost of hismother, and Tiresias explainedthat a ghost would speak onlyif it drank the animals' blood.Odysseus let his mother drinkthe blood, and suddenly sherecognized him. She told himthat Penelope still grieved andwaited for him, that his estatewas still in Telemachus'shands, and that his father livedin poverty and solitude. Sheherself died of grief andlonging for Odysseus. He triedto put his arms around her, buteach time she dissolved at histouch. At this point Odysseusconcludes his tale. It is late,and he asks the court again forpassage home. The king andqueen promise him many Nnegifts if he stays on a littlelonger and ask him to describethe soldiers and heroes he metin the land of the dead.

In the conversation with hismother, Odysseus must fully facethe tragic consequences of hisabsence: while he has beenseeking glory and adventure, hisfamily has suffered a great deal.Throughout Odysseus's journey,we observe his desire for gloryslowly give way to his desire forhome; his encounter with hismother tips the scale towardhome. We have seen him takeresponsibility for his soldiers, butwe will soon see him shift thatsense of responsibility to hisfamily. His central value changesfrom glory to honor.

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Odysseus describes theconversation he had withAgamemnon. The ghostdiscussed his wife's inNdelity;he told Odysseus that herlover Aegisthus murdered himand his comrades right at thedinner table. His wife'sbehavior, he said, stained allwomen everywhere. Headvised Odysseus to keepsome things hidden from hiswife, and to arrive home insecret.

Talking to his mother makesOdysseus long for home andfamily, but talking toAgamemnon makes him wary ofthat home. Though Odysseusloves his family, he must treatthem with suspicion: he mustemploy cunning in dealing withfriends and enemies both. Onemust always keep oneselfpartially hidden.

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Next Odysseus talked toAchilles, who said that hewould rather be a slave onearth than a king in the land ofthe dead. Odysseus told himthat his son , acted verybravely and killed many men,which pleased Achilles. Thenthe shades swarmed violentlyaround him, wanting to talk tohim. He ran back in fear to hisship, and they set sail.

Achilles is a king in theunderworld because of the gloryhe achieved while alive. But, nowdead, he would throw away allthat glory just to be alive. LikeMenelaus, he has come to valueglory less and less. He is stillpleased to hear of his son's gloryin battle, though; he can't give upglory entirely.

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BOOK 12The men returned to Aeaea,performed all the properfuneral rites for Elpenor, andburied his body. BeforeOdysseus and his men depart,Circe told Odysseus that hemust pass the island of theSirens, who will try to lure themen to their deaths with theirsongs. She advised thatOdysseus put earwax in themen's ears, and that they tieOdysseus to the mast if heinsisted on hearing the Sirens'songs.

The songs of the Sirens createpure, unmotivated desire, whichoverrides the listener's moreparticular desire for home, life, oranything. It is a dishonorable,selBsh desire, lacking all self-restraint, that has no object butpersonal satisfaction. In contrast,the desire for home is directedoutward toward family andfriends.

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Next, she told him, the crewmust pass between Scylla, aterrible six-headed monster,and Charybdis, who creates awhirlpool that sucks wholeships down into the sea threetimes a day. Only the ship Argohas passed between thesemonsters with no lives lost.Circe advised that Odysseussail his ship past Scylla andsacriNce six men rather thanrisk getting sucked down intothe whirlpool and sinking.Odysseus asked if he canescape Charybdis and Nght offScylla, but Circe chastisedOdysseus for hisstubbornness: Scylla isimmortal and can't bedefeated.

Circe advises him to chooseScylla's violence over thewhirlpool of Charybdis, butOdysseus wants the glory ofrepeating the Argo's amazingachievement and Bght them off:a plan that risks the lives of thecrewmen and shows disrespectto the gods. Scylla may not be agoddess, but she is immortal: it isimpious to pit mortal will againstimmortal will.

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The sun rose as Circe Nnished,and the men prepared theirship for departure. As the shipsailed away, Odysseus told themen Circe's advice, though hetold them that Circe said hemust hear the Sirens' songs,and didn't mention Scylla andCharybdis because he didn'twant to paralyze the men withfear. As they pass the island ofthe Siren's the men put wax intheir ears and lash Odysseusto the mast and they passwithout incident. When theycame to Charybdis theycarefully sail around thewhirlpool, and Scylla grabbedand ate six men. Filled withgrief and pity, the men sailaway as fast as possible.

Odysseus follows Circe adviceexactly. He manages to theglorious achievement of hearingthe siren's song, but does not pithis will against that song. Heliterally has himself restrained.And though he wants to BghtScylla and gain glory, he does not.His honorable sense ofresponsibility to his crewoverrides his desire for glory.

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Next they reached the islandof the Sun. Odysseus wantedto avoid the island altogether,but Eurylochus insisted thatthe crew needed rest.Odysseus made the menswear an oath not to eat anycattle, but they were trappedon the island for a month by aninopportune wind; eventuallytheir stores ran out and themen began to starve. One dayOdysseus fell asleep, andEurylochus convinced the mento eat the Cattle of the Sun: it'sbetter to die at sea from thewrath of the gods, he said, thanto die of hunger. Odysseuswoke up to Nnd that the menhad broken their oaths andkilled some cattle.

The roles of Odysseus andEurylochus are reversed. OnCirce's island, Eurylochus hadbeen the sensible one andOdysseus had been the risk-taker. On the island of the Sun,Odysseus is sensible andEurylochus is careless anddisobedient. When glory is not inquestion, Odysseus is morecapable of exercising self-restraint. The episode is anotherinstance in which the men makea fatal error while Odysseus isasleep.

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The sun god Helios angrilyasked Zeus and the other godsto punish Odysseus's crew forkilling his cattle, and Zeuscomplied. Strange thingsbegan to happen to the cattlethat had been killed: theybellowed and moved. But themen continue to feast for sixmore days before sailing away.As soon as they were out atsea Zeus sent down a stormthat destroyed the ship andkilled everyone aboard exceptOdysseus, who hung on tosome pieces of wood. The winddrove him back towardCharybdis right when themonster made the whirlpool,but Odysseus saved himself byhanging on to the branch of aNg-tree. After the whirlpoolspit back out his little raft hedrifted at sea until he reachedCalypso's island. HereOdysseus stops his tale: hehad told the rest earlier.

The men show impiety whenthey ignore the bad omens sentdown by the gods and continueto feast on the cattle. In thisworld, people must not only obeythe direct orders of the gods butalso try to guess their desires andintentions based on more or lessambiguous signs. Impiety or not,the crew is doomed. According todivine justice, their lives are lessvaluable than the lives of Helios'scattle. Justice in this world is notdetermined by the sanctity ofhuman life but by rules of honorand piety.

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BOOK 13The next day, King Alcinousstows Odysseus's many giftson the ship and everyonefeasts. When Odysseus walksonto the ship the nextmorning, he falls into a deep,sweet sleep – a sleep thatresembles death, and thaterases brieOy the memory ofhis twenty years away fromhome. The ship lands in aharbor in Ithaca and the crewplaces the sleeping Odysseusand his gifts in a spot far awayfrom any road to hide him fromthieves.

Like Circe's potion and lotusCower, sleep temporarily erasesmemory and strips one of willand desire. For Penelope, sleep isa blessing, because she ispowerless to take any action. ForOdysseus it is often a trap,because he must constantly takeaction. In this case, though,Athena and the crew protect himfrom harm, and the sleep seemslike a kind of temporary havenfrom the stress of the last 20years, almost like a preparationfor his return home by makinghim, for a while, forget that hehad ever left.

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Poseidon is angered that thePhaeacians helped Odysseusand gave him so muchtreasure, despite Poseidon'sgrudge. Zeus considersPoseidon's complaint a bittrivial, but he encourages himto take whatever action willsoothe his anger. To takerevenge, Poseidon fulNlls aprophecy mentioned in book 8:he turns to stone thePhaeacian ship that carriedOdysseus to Ithaca just as itreturns to the Phaeacianharbor, so that the ship sinks.The Phaeacians are terriNedthat he will also create amountain around their harborand block their access to thesea, as the prophecy says, sothey pray and sacriNce to himto try to appease him.

The Phaeacians are followingZeus's code of hospitality inwelcoming Odysseus, giving himgifts, and escorting him home.But Poseidon considers theirbehavior impious: by helpingOdysseus, they impedePoseidon's anger, and thereforepit their human wills against hisdivine will. The situationdemonstrates the messycomplications of divine justice.Though Zeus might defend thePhaeacians, who obeyed hisrules, he chooses not to stand inPoseidon's way.

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Back in Ithaca, Odysseuswakes from his long sleep.Athena has surrounded himwith mist to protect him, so atNrst he doesn't recognize hissurroundings. He thinks thatthe Phaeacians tricked himand brought him to someforeign land. Then Athenaappears in the guise of a youngshepherd, and tells Odysseusthat he is in Ithaca, after all.Odysseus conceals his joy andtells Athena (who he doesn'trecognize) that he's a fugitivefrom Crete, wanted for killinga man who tried to steal fromhim. He says that thePhaeacians took pity on himand brought him to Ithacawhile he slept. Now Athenachanges into a woman, praisesOdysseus for his cunning, andreveals her real identity. Sheexplains that she will helpOdysseus hide his treasureand conceal his identity, andwarns him that he must sufferfurther even under his ownroof.

Athena's mist is another kind ofprotective disguise, and ensuresthat sleeping Odysseus stays outof harm's way. Odysseus followsAgamemnon's advice and keepshis identity hidden from themoment he steps onto home soil.The story he tells Athena is oneof many alternate identities heconstructs while he's in hiding inhis own court. Like many of thestories, the fugitive story is bothtrue and untrue: many of thedetails are fabricated, butOdysseus did kill the Cyclops fortrying to steal his life, and he is afugitive from Poseidon. This half-truth places emphasis on hisguilt.

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Odysseus notes that Athenahad been kind to him duringthe war but that she seemed tohave abandoned him during hislong travels. Athena delights inhis grace and cunning: thesequalities, she says, are thereason she can't help but stickby him. She explains that shehad not helped him during histravels for fear of incitingPoseidon's anger. She tellsOdysseus about the suitors'treachery and aboutPenelope's loyalty. Odysseusrealizes he might have diedAgamemnon's ignoble deathhad Athena not warned him,and asks her to help him planhis revenge. She changesOdysseus into an old beggarand tells him to visit his oldswineherd, Eumaeus, whoremains loyal to him.

Athena's loyalty to Odysseusderives from an odd mixture ofjustice and affection. Does sheprotect him because his cunningis honorable and merits reward,or because she Bnds it charmingand impressive (and because sheherself is cunning, and thereforeadmires the trait in others)? Weenvision the law as cold andobjective, but in this world theinstruments of the law areemotional and capricious.Similarly, Athena does notprotect Odysseus during hisjourney not because she believeshe was wrong or deservingpunishment, but because shefears another god.

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BOOK 14Odysseus, still disguised as abeggar, walks to theswineherd's house. Eumaeusinvites Odysseus in to eat anddrink and tell his story.Odysseus thanks theswineherd for his hospitality,and Eumaeus answers thatZeus decrees that everyone bekind to beggars and strangers.He serves Odysseus two pigs,barley, and wine. He complainsthat the suitors eat all the besthogs without fearing therevenge of the gods, whohonor the just acts of men. Thesuitors must think Odysseus isdead, says the swineherd,because they shamelesslydeplete what was once therichest realm in this part of theworld.

We see right away that Eumaeuslives piously and respectscustom. He has also remainedBercely loyal to Odysseus, andhas therefore grown to hate thesuitors. He is amazed that thesuitors can disregard the rules ofhonor so blithely – yet hecontinues to believe in the gods,and sees the suitors as foolishnot to fear retribution. In thisworld, it seems that peoplealways get their just deserts.

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Odysseus-the-beggar tellsEumaeus that he was born inCrete, the unlawful son of arich man and a concubine. As ayoung man he loved adventureand war but not home andfamily: he won honor in battleand took a lot of treasure fromforeign lands. Then he led aOeet in the Trojan war, battledfor ten years and came home;but only a month afterhomecoming he set out againfor Egypt to seek moretreasure. However, his menkilled and plundered in theEgyptian farms against his will,and an army from the Egyptiancity came and killed orenslaved the whole crew,though he escaped by beggingthe king for mercy. He stayedin Egypt for seven years andcollected a great fortune.

In this new identity story,Odysseus implies that he, too,has chosen glory over family; hisdownfall, also, had been animmoderate quest for treasure,fame, and glory. The story aboutEgypt corresponds in mostdetails to Odysseus's encounterwith the Cicones. In reality,Odysseus and part of his crewmanage to escape, but the older,wiser Odysseus revises the story:in this version, he must humblehimself to survive. Odysseus hascome to doubt glory-seeking andrespect humility.

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Odysseus-the-beggar leftEgypt with a Phoenician conman, who convinced him to goto Libya. But Zeus struck theirship with lightning and healone survived. He Ooated onthe mast of the ship for ninedays until he reachedThesprotia, where king Phidontreated him kindly and told himthat Odysseus was sailinghome with great treasure.Phidon sent him to the city ofDulichion by ship, but the crewof the ship dressed him in ragsand tied him up on an Ithacabeach. Finally, he escaped andstumbled across Eumaeus'shome. Here Odysseus-the-beggar Nnishes his inventedtale.

The remainder of the storycorresponds in many details toOdysseus's voyage: Zeus'spunishment, nine days of drifting,a strange king's kindness.Odysseus was not the one toprovoke Zeus's anger, so he doesnot take the blame in this versionof the story. Such an identitystory, like disguise and self-restraint, has elements of bothtruth and untruth. A lie, in thisworld, does not only mask thetruth – it has a certain truth of itsown.

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Odysseus decides to testEumaeus's generosity: hedescribes a freezing, snowynight during the Trojan Warwhen he complained toOdysseus that he was about todie from the cold. Odysseusthen sent one of his own menon a made-up mission so thathe, the beggar, could take hiscloak. Eumaeus praises thestory and lends Odysseus-the-beggar a cloak of his own.

Odysseus has no particularreason for asking for the cloak insuch a roundabout way:Eumaeus has already proved hiskindness and hospitality.Odysseus seems to enjoy lyingand disguise the way he onceenjoyed glory. Further, he makesup a story that doesn't onlydisguise who he is but actuallyincludes himself treating hismade-up self in a noble andhonorable way. That's a lot ofcunning and, to use a word theGreeks wouldn't, chutzpah.

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BOOK 15Athena Oies to Lacedaemonand tells Telemachus to comeback to Ithaca. She warns himthat some of the suitors will tryto ambush and kill him on hisway home, and tells him toavoid all the islands. The nextmorning, Menelaus arrangesfor Telemachus to leave forhome with Pisistratus. WhenTelemachus mentionsOdysseus in his good-byes, aneagle with a goose in its clawsOies by: a good omen. At Pylos,Telemachus loads his gifts intohis ship and sails to Ithaca; hetakes along Theoclymenus, aprophet's son who killed a manin Argos and begs forhospitality.

Athena orchestrates the meetingof father and son bycommanding Telemachus toreturn home. She manipulatesTelemachus more directly thanshe does Odysseus (she tends tohelp Odysseus with his ownplans, but not give him orders).Meanwhile, she also thwarts theplans of the impious,dishonorable suitors, who wantto do to Telemachus whatAigisthus did to Agamemnon.And Telemachus continues topractice hospitality.

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Meanwhile, back in Ithaca,Odysseus decides to testEumaeus one more time. Hetells Eumaeus that he plans toleave the next morning and tryhis luck begging at the palace,but Eumaeus urges him to stayuntil Telemachus returns. Inresponse to Odysseus-as-beggar's questions, he tellshim that king Laertes livesgrieving for Odysseus and forOdysseus's mother. Odysseusthen asks Eumaeus to tell hisstory and the swineherd gladlyagrees, reOecting on thepleasure of rememberedsorrows.

Eumaeus proves the extent of hishospitality by asking the strangebeggar to stay in his home for aslong as need be. EumaeusconBrms the sad fate ofOdysseus's family: Odysseusmost likely wants to hear the sadfacts repeated because the griefinspires him to take action. AndEumaeus himself agrees thatremembered sorrows can offersome pleasure.

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Eumaeus says that his fatherwas lord of two cities on theisland Syrie. A Phoenician crewlanded one day on the islandand one of the men seduced aPhoenician nurse from hisfather's household. She leftwith them, and she broughtthe king's child with her: thatchild was the swineherd.Eventually the ship landed inIthaca and Laertes bought theinfant. Here Eumaeus's storyends.

Eumaeus's story illustrates thewild vacillations of fate in theancient world. Though Eumaeuswas born royal, his chanceabduction transformed him intoa servant. Heredity does notnecessarily determine one's fate;the events of one's life and theactions of the gods can erase anysort of status in a moment.Justice, in this world, does notmean that each person gets whathe deserves: chance is part of thisjustice.

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The next morning, Telemachusarrives safely and secretly inIthaca. He directs the ship tocontinue on to the city whilehe goes to Eumaeus farm. Ashe leaves the ship, they all seea hawk with a dove in its claws.Theoclymenus interprets thisomen to mean good things forOdysseus and his descendants.

Telemachus's decision to go seeEumaeus seems likely to havebeen orchestrated by Athena,and excitement builds as fatherand son will Bnally meet.Meanwhile, the gods seem tofavor coming events…

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BOOK 16When Telemachus arrives atthe farm, Eumaeus asks him totake care of the stranger.Telemachus gladly offers togive the stranger clothes and asword. Odysseus-the-beggarinterjects to say that it upsetshim to hear about the sad stateof affairs at the palace, andthat he wishes he could helpNght the suitors; if he wereOdysseus, he says, he woulddeserve death if he did notNght his offenders, and hewould gladly die trying to Nghtthem rather than tolerate theirinsulting behavior. Telemachusasks Eumaeus to go to thepalace and tell Penelope thather son has returned homesafely, but to tell no one else,not even Laertes.

Telemachus proves hishospitality when he offers to helpthe stranger. It seems thathospitality is not only a custom,in this world, but a cardinalvirtue: a quality, like integrity orkindness, that implies most otherhuman merits. Odysseus spellsout the requirements of honor forTelemachus and Eumaeus: theymust defeat the suitors or die.

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Athena approaches the farm,but only Odysseus and thedogs can see her. He walksoutside to talk to her, and shetells Odysseus to reveal histrue identity to Telemachus sothat the two can plan theirrevenge against the suitors.She makes Odysseus look likehimself again. When he stepsback inside, Telemachus isamazed at the transformation– he thinks Odysseus must bea god, since only gods canchange so easily. I am yourfather, Odysseus tells him;Telemachus can't quite believeit at Nrst, but Odysseusexplains that Athena isresponsible for his magicaltransformation.

Athena helps Odysseus carry outhis vengeance by helping himconceal and reveal his identity:she enhances his talent fordisguise by intermittentlychanging his appearance. We seeagain that she helps Odysseus,she augments his own skills, butshe does not control him. Andnote how the capacity fortransformation and disguise isseen as a godlike quality.

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Odysseus asks Telemachus todescribe the suitors so thatthey can plan an attack.Telemachus doubts that onlytwo men can defeat such alarge group of suitors – over ahundred in total – butOdysseus reminds him thatAthena and Zeus will stand bythem as well. Odysseus tellshim to go to the palace andmingle with the crowd ofsuitors. Eumaeus will bringOdysseus, once againdisguised as a beggar, intotown later. Odysseus furtherinstructs Telemachus to keephis return secret – even fromLaertes, Penelope, andEumaeus.

Athena has assured Odysseusthat he can trust Telemachus,but he does not trust any othermember of his family with thenews of his return. His suspicionis not unkind: in a world wherepeople's lives and loyaltieschange constantly (just askAgamemnon), it would be foolishof Odysseus to expect his familyto stay exactly as it was for thetwenty years of his absence.

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Both Eumaeus and a heraldfrom Pylos report to Penelopethat Telemachus has comehome. The suitors aredismayed to hear the news.They gather at the meetinggrounds and complain that agod must have savedTelemachus's life. Antinousproposes to murder him onhome soil, but in secret, toavoid persecution.Amphinomus suggests thatthey should only kill the princeif the gods are in favor of themurder, and the suitors allagree to this more moderateplan.

The suitors are both impious andfoolish to try to harm a personwho seems to have theprotection of the gods. It isdisrespectful and futile to pitone's will against the will of thegods. Mortals can act freely, inthis world, only if they do notinterfere with the plans of thegods: they are free the way cattleare free to roam in a very largepen.

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Penelope emerges from herchambers and confrontsAntinous about his schemesagainst Telemachus. Shereminds him that Odysseusonce saved his father, andshames Antinous formistreating Odysseus's landand wife in his absence.Eurymachus tells Penelopethat he will not let Telemachusbe harmed, but hisreassurance is dishonest.Meanwhile, Eumaeus returnsto the farm, and he,Telemachus, and Odysseus(once again disguised as thebeggar) eat and fall asleep.

Slowly, the suitors begin toacquire distinct personalities.Antinous is impious and violent;his behavior seems all the moreheinous when we learn that heowes Odysseus a debt of honorfor saving his father. Unlike theother suitors, he has noconsideration of honor and piety– he is almost as lawless asPolyphemus.

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BOOK 17Telemachus goes into the city;the suitors are friendly to him,but their intentions are dark.He tells Penelope thatMenelaus had heard thatOdysseus had been trapped onCalypso's island.Theoclymenus adds hisprophecy: he says thatOdysseus is in Ithaca as theyspeak, plotting revenge. Notlong after, Eumaeus andOdysseus set out for the city,with Odysseus disguised as abeggar. On their way, they runinto the goatherd Melanthius,who insults them and evengives Odysseus a kick.Odysseus wants to hit himback but he stays calm.

Though the suitors try to actdeceitfully, no one seems fooled;to the reader, who shares theauthor's omniscience, theirattempts at cunning seemtransparent and pathetic. Theepisode with the goatherd showshow much Odysseus king haschanged during his travels: onlyrecently, he could not endure aninsult from Broadsea or from theCyclops without retaliating.

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As the two men approach thecastle, Eumaeus warnsOdysseus-the-beggar thatsomeone might hit or mockhim just for the fun of it, andOdysseus replies that he canwithstand any humiliationafter his years of wandering.As they speak, Odysseusnotices an old dog lyingneglected in the dust anddung: it's Argos, who was onceOdysseus's puppy. Master anddog recognize each other rightaway, but at that moment theold dog quietly dies.

Odysseus implies that his desirefor home has become strongerthan his pride. He has suffered somuch, and so ingloriously, that heno longer fears suffering of anykind. The gods have Cung himfrom place to place, they havespared his life on a whim; he hasno vanity left to protect. His onlygoal is to defend the honor of hishouse and family. He begins bybringing joy to his dog as it drawsits dying breath.

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Odysseus enters his ownhouse for the Nrst time intwenty years. Telemachus tellsEumaeus to instructOdysseus-the-beggar to goaround the table begging forscraps, and Athena secondsthat advice: it's a way ofseparating the bad suitorsfrom the innocent ones. Mostsuitors pity him and give himfood, but Antinous asksEumaeus angrily why he hasbrought the strange beggar tocourt.

Though all the suitors exceptAntinous treat Odysseus-the-beggar quite well, they are allfated to die. Athena andOdysseus may want to test thesuitors individually, but they arealready guilty as a group. Theirdishonorable actions outweighany private kind-heartedness.

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Antinous Oings a stool at theking, but Odysseus containshis anger once again, and tellsthe other suitors that suchundeserved violence will meetwith punishment from thegods. The other suitors agreethat the gods will strike downAntinous for his crime.Telemachus is anguished tosee his father abused, but hehides his feelings. Eumaeusspeaks brieOy to the queenand then goes back to his farm,but Odysseus and Telemachusstay behind with the suitors.

Odysseus and Telemachus bothshow great self-restraint; they arewilling to tolerate momentarydisgrace – to disguise their angerand shame – to restore the honorof the household. Glory is moreselBsh than honor, which oftenrequires one to sacriBce one'svanity to defend an idea.

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BOOK 18A rude beggar named Arnaeus(Irus for short) wanders intothe palace. He insultsOdysseus-the-beggar whenthey meet on the grounds, andAntinous decides to pit themagainst each other so that thesuitors can enjoy the Nght; theprize is sausage and a seat atthe suitors' table. Odysseus-the-beggar pulls up his rags toreveal a powerful-lookingbody, and Irus is Nlled withfear. Odysseus decides to hurthim only slightly; he punchesIrus on the neck and Oings himoutside. The suitors laugh andinvite the stranger to eat attheir table.

Odysseus agrees to Bght thebeggar that insulted him not outof anger but out of shrewdness.We see that Odysseus is incontrol of his emotions, becausehe carefully chooses the degreeof violence to inCict on the man:he does not let his anger run wilddespite Irus's insults. Even whenhis actions (violence) correspondto his emotions (anger), he stillmaintains a prudent separationbetween the two.

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The suitor Amphinomus isespecially kind to Odysseus-the-beggar. As they talk,Odysseus mentions his ownpast violence and error,advises him to live lawfully, andhints at the suitors' impendingdeaths. Amphinomus feelsvery ill at ease, but thenarrator notes that there isnothing to be done – he isfated to die on Telemachus'sspear.

Odysseus takes pity onAmphinomus, so he tries toprevent his death by hinting thathe should Cee the palace as soonas possible – to break hisallegiance to the group of suitorsthat he must defeat. But, whileAmphinomus feels anxious, hedoes not leave—is that his freewill to stay, or because he is fatedto die?

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Athena inspires Penelope tocome down and speak to thesuitors. The queen tells thesuitors that if they hope to winher hand they should give hergifts, as is customary.Odysseus is pleased at thisclever trick. The suitors sendtheir servants to bring Nnetreasures and begin to danceand sing.

Though Penelope does not knowabout Odysseus's plan, hercunning helps to give the suitorsa false sense of security, becauseher announcement gives themthe impression that she will soonchoose a husband.

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Athena wants to rile Odysseusas much as possible, so sheinspires Eurymachus to mockhim once more, but Odysseusremains calm and predicts thesuitors' deaths. Eurymachusthrows a stool at Odysseus-the-beggar but the stool hits aservant instead. Telemachusscolds the suitors and sendsthem all to bed.

Though the suitors are by naturehaughty and rude, Athena seemsto force them to commit greaterand greater offenses so thatOdysseus will not spare themwhen the fated battle begins.Odysseus continues to show self-restraint.

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BOOK 19That night, as the suitors sleep,Odysseus and Telemachuslock up most of the weapons aspart of their plan. Telemachusgoes to sleep, and soon afterPenelope comes to questionthe strange visitor, and she andOdysseus-the-beggar sit downto have a conversation. Hetells her that he once hostedOdysseus in his home. Sheweeps to hear her husband'sname, but decides to test thestranger's honesty by askinghim for details. The kingdescribes Odysseus's clothesand his herald, and Penelopeweeps again; she herself gaveOdysseus the clothes in thestory. He tells her thatOdysseus has been at sea for along time but that he will behome before the month is over.

Despite Penelope's grief, she hasthe sense to test the stranger, justas Odysseus has tested manyothers. Such a test is cunningpitted against cunning: a trick toseparate lies from truth,appearance from reality, theouter from the inner. It is cunningused to disarm someone else'scunning, a sleight-of-hand tostrip off someone's disguise – orto establish their sincerity. Onlyafter cunning can there besincerity.

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Penelope asks her maids tobathe the stranger, but herefuses such a luxury; instead,the nurse Eurycleia washes hisfeet. The old nurse cries tohear Odysseus's name andswears the there is a greatlikeness between her king andthe old beggar. Odysseus slylyagrees. But when the nursebegins to wash Odysseus'sfeet, she notices a scarOdysseus received whilehunting with his grandfatherAutolycus. She drops his foot,spilling the basin of water, andcries out in recognition.Odysseus begs her to be silent,however, and she gladlypromises to keep his secret.Meanwhile, Athena distractsPenelope from noticing thescene.

Only the dog Argos recognizesOdysseus in his disguise, andonly the old nurse who knew andcared for him as a boy notes aresemblance between the beggarand the king. It is as though theyare loyal and connected to thespirit of the king, and thereforeare not tricked by hiscomplicated exterior; Penelopeand Telemachus, who love himfor both his interior and hisexterior, cannot see through thedisguise. The scar connects hischanged appearance to his past,just as it cuts through skin toCesh.

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When the nurse leaves,Odysseus-the-beggar resumeshis conversation withPenelope. She asks him tointerpret a dream in which aneagle Oies down from themountains and breaks thenecks of twenty geese in herhousehold, and thenannounces that it is herhusband who has just killedthe suitors. Odysseus tells herthat the dream means certaindeath for the suitors, butPenelope is skeptical that thedream was a prophecy ratherthan mere fancy. She also tellshim that she plans to announcean archery contest to Nnallychoose a new husband.Odysseus promises that herhusband will return before asingle man strings the bow.

Even pious people like Penelopecannot always recognize signsfrom the gods: piety requirescleverness, not just obedience.Though Penelope does not wantto choose a new husband, shedecides that she can't keep thesuitors at bay any longer.Odysseus has come home just intime to save her from disloyaltyand unhappiness; his timelyarrival will preserve her honor.

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BOOK 20Odysseus lies awake andworries about Nghting anentire crowd of suitors - andthe crowds that will come toavenge their deaths. Athenareassures him and helps himfall asleep. Meanwhile, thequeen lies awake and wishesfor death: even death is betterthan the inNdelity she fears willbe forced upon her. Her cryingrouses Odysseus, who asksZeus for a good omen. Rightaway, Zeus sends a clap ofthunder.

Athena can soothe Odysseusbecause she knows his future: thesuitors will be defeated, thehusband will come home. Herpeaceful presence acts on himlike a sudden faith in the future:here, she seems to serve as ametaphor for that faith ratherthan as a meddlesome god.

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Eurycleia instructs the maidsto clean and decorate thehouse for the feast to be heldduring the archery contest.Odysseus ignores anotherinsult from the goatherd andspeaks brieOy to the cowherd.An eagle Oies by with a dove inits claws, and Amphinomusconvinces the suitors to stopplotting against the prince andstart feasting instead.

Amphinomus recognizes theomens predicting death anddestruction. He cuts short thesuitors' futile and impiousplanning in hopes of reducingtheir punishment, but it is toolittle too late.

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Athena wants to rouseOdysseus's anger so sheinspires a suitor namesCtesippus to Oing a hoof athim; Telemachus loudlychastises the suitor, butOdysseus remains calm.Another suitor urgesTelemachus to convincePenelope to take anotherhusband, and Telemachusrefuses yet again. Athenamakes the suitors break intoirrational, hysterical laugher.The seer Theoclymenus pointsout dark omens: blood on thewalls, ghosts at the doors, amist that covers the sun. Thesuitors mock the seer andinsult the king once again.

Athena continues to exacerbatethe behavior of the suitors.Suddenly, they seem likemarionettes throwing hardobjects at her command; theythemselves seem bewildered bytheir behavior. They're frightenedby the morbid signs, but theykeep mocking and insulting.Athena forces them to continueto commit their earlier offenses:she forces them to be the worstversion of themselves.

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BOOK 21Penelope sets out Odysseus'sbow and axes, and announcesto the suitors that the archerthat can shoot an arrowcleanly through the axes willhave her hand in marriage.Telemachus tries it Nrst, to setan example, but he can't evenstring the bow. The suitorLeodes tries the bow and fails:it is too stiff to bend. Othersuitors lack the strength tostring it as well. Meanwhile,Odysseus speaks to Eumaeusand the cowherd, Philoetius,outside the palace: he tellsthem his true identity, showsthem his scar as proof, andenlists them in the comingbattle. He asks Eumaeus tocarry him the bow after thesuitors have tried it, and to tellthe maids to lock their doors;he asks Philoetius to lock thecourtyard so that no men canescape.

We are reminded, after watchingOdysseus beg in rags andtolerate insult after insult, thathe is a hero in the traditionalsense as well: he hasextraordinary strength and skill.His weapon alone shows that heis far superior to the other men;they can't even string it! But evena hero like Odysseus is not tooproud to resort to trickery or toaccept help from servants. Thenotion of the mighty, singularhero is no longer accurate, in thisbook; 2700 years ago, it isalready outdated. Ancient ideasof glory give way to more humannotions of honor.

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Odysseus reenters the palace,where Eurymachus has justfailed to string the bow.Odysseus-the-beggar advisesthe suitors to rest and pray tothe archer god while hehimself tries the bow, just toamuse them. Antinous warnshim angrily that he may end uplike the drunken CentaurEurythion, who was mauled byhis hosts the Lapiths. ButPenelope urges the suitors tolet the stranger try his luck;there is no shame in such athing, she says, compared tothe shame the suitors havebrought on the household.Telemachus asserts his right tobe the one to hand over thebow and sends Penelope toher quarters.

Odysseus maintains his ruseuntil the very end – perhaps hetakes pride in the art of disguise.Antinous's warning shows thathe does not comprehend honorand custom: honor does not lie inone's social standing, so there isnothing dishonorable in a beggarcompeting against a lord.Penelope says as much.Telemachus demonstrates hisgrowing maturity and conBdenceby giving his mother orders andthereby protecting her from thecoming battle.

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Eumaeus carries the bow tothe king amidst the mocking ofthe suitors. Odysseus stringsthe bow as gracefully as a bardtuning his lyre; Zeus sendsdown a bolt of lightning. Thenthe king shoots the arrowcleanly through the row ofaxes. He says to Telemachus:it's time for the song anddance that follow a feast.

Homer compares Odysseus to abard to show both his facilitywith the unwieldy bow and theartfulness of his schemes. In thismoment, Odysseus regains hisheroic stature; but his glory isnow more human as it containstraces of the helplessness,despair, and humiliation heexperienced in his 20 years oftravel back to Ithaca.

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BOOK 22Odysseus shoots Antinousthrough the throat just as thesuitor is about to take a sip ofwine. The king kicks the tableand scatters the food on theOoor, and the food mingleswith Antinous's blood. Hereveals himself to be the long-absent king of Ithaca. Thesuitors, horriNed, plead formercy, blame Antinous fortheir wrongdoings, and offerto repay all they have stolen.But Odysseus tells them thatno amount of wealth can wipeout their crimes. Eurymachuscalls the suitors to battle, butOdysseus quickly kills him.Telemachus kills Amphinomusand then runs to get weaponsfor himself, Odysseus,Eumaeus, and Philoetius.

This scene makes it clear that thesuitors' crimes are not merelyBnancial. They are crimes ofhonor against Odysseus and hiswife and son, and the suitorscannot compensate Odysseus forhonor lost. Only vengeance – themechanism of justice – can wipeout the dishonor they havebrought upon his family. Thepunishment deBnes the crime,and the crime separates theguilty from the innocent. In thisway, Penelope, Telemachus, andOdysseus restore theirinnocence.

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Eumaeus guards the side-doorto the palace so that no suitorscan escape. The goatherdMelanthius climbs through asecret passageway intoOdysseus's storeroom andbrings weapons to some of thesuitors. Eumaeus andPhiloetius catch Melanthiuswhen he returns for moreweapons and leave him strungup in the storeroom in greatpain. Athena appears in theguise of Mentor; she thenturns into a swallow and Oiesto a beam on the roof to watchthe Nghting. The suitors shootarrows at Odysseus, butAthena makes sure the arrowsmiss their mark again andagain. Odysseus andTelemachus slaughter thesuitors like eagles attackinglittle birds. Odysseus sparesonly the bard and the heraldMedon.

Athena helps to assureOdysseus's victory, but herintervention is, again, veryindirect. In theory, she couldstrike down all the suitors herself,or ask Zeus to send lethal lightingbolts; instead, she allows the mento Bght their own battle, but sheprotects Odysseus and his menform the arrows of the suitors:she exaggerates Odysseus'ssuperiority and the suitors'clumsiness. She also takes theform of a bird, not a god –perhaps as a reminder of themany bird omens that haveforeshadowed the battle.

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Telemachus brings outEurycleia; she is happy to seethe suitors dead, butOdysseus warns her that it iswrong to rejoice over thebodies of the dead. He tells herthat the men's dishonorablebehavior earned them thewrath of the gods. He thenasks her to gather the dozenservant women who shamedthe household by sleeping withthe suitors. Once they arrive,he tells the servant women tohelp Telemachus, Eumaeus,and Philoetius clear away thecorpses and the blood. Whenthey Nnish the job Telemachusbeheads the women with acable; then the three men takeMelanthius outside and cut offhis nose, ears, genitals, hands,and feet. Finally, Odysseusasks the servants to sterilizethe house with smoke.

Even in his heroic moment,Odysseus remains temperate,modest, and mindful of custom.His victory is bloody, but notbloodthirsty: he does not seem totake an animal pleasure in theslaughter. He does only what'snecessary: he spares theinnocent, and metes outpunishment according to theseverity of the crime. And thepunishment, however elaborateand brutal it may seem, does notsatisfy an injured ego – Odysseussees himself merely as aninstrument of the gods' wrath. Tobe pious, he must relinquish partof his free will.

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BOOK 23Eurycleia tells Penelope thatOdysseus has Nnally comehome and killed the suitors.The nurse mentions thetelltale boar tusk scar onOdysseus's knee, but Peneloperefuses to believe the story.She comes downstairs tospeak to the stranger; he lookslike Odysseus but also like themysterious beggar. As sheconsiders the stranger inindecision, Odysseus tellsTelemachus that the palacemust look as though they arecelebrating a wedding; hewants to keep secret the factthat he has killed most of thehigh-born young men in Ithaca.

The scar is not proof enough forPenelope. Her suspicion is notcold-hearted, but just theopposite: she is so loyal toOdysseus that she fearsbetraying him in any way – evenaccidentally. To be loyal, she hasto act disloyal at Brst; to lovehim, she has to act as though shedoesn't love him. Disguise, tomany of the characters, is acircuitous route to sincerity.

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Athena changes Odysseusback into a handsome youngerman. He chides Penelope forher cold welcome and tells thenurse that he will sleep alone.To test the stranger, Penelopetells Eurycleia to bring him thebridal bed, but Odysseus criesout angrily that the bed cannotbe moved because he built itaround an olive tree. The storyis deNnite proof of his identity;Penelope cries and embraceshim.

Penelope resists Odysseusbecause she fears that the godswant to trick her into disloyalty;if that were true, her reticencewould be resistance to the will ofthe gods. In her small way,Penelope is choosing loyalty toher husband over piety, earthlyhonor over divine grace.

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Odysseus warns Penelopethat he must make one morelong, dangerous journeybefore they can settle down inpeace. According to theprophecy in Book 11, he musttravel to a land far from anysea, plant an oar, and sacriNceanimals to Poseidon. Finallythey retire to bed. Before heleaves the following dawn,Odysseus tells Penelope tostay with her maids in herroom, because men mightcome to avenge the suitors. Hesets out with Telemachus, theswineherd, and the cowherd.

Now that he has restored honorto his household, Odysseus mustmake amends to Poseidon. Pietyto the gods takes priority over hislonging for family. In this, too,Odysseus shows great self-restraint: to protect his familyfrom Poseidon's wrath, andtherefore to beneBt them in thelong run, he must causetemporary pain to them and tohimself.

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BOOK 24The suitors' ghosts Oy cryingto the underworld. As theghosts arrive, Achilles,Agamemnon, and Ajax discusstheir own deaths. Agamemnonenvies Achilles and Ajax theirdeaths in battle. Agamemnonrecognizes Amphimedon, oneof the suitor's ghosts, and askshim why so many noble youngmen have died all at once.Amphimedon describes thesuitors' courtship, Penelope'sloyalty, and Odysseus'srevenge. Agamemnon is gladthat Odysseus's wife was morefaithful than his own, and saysthat gods and men will foreverpraise her good sense and self-restraint.

Although for most of the book itseems that Penelope has to waitpassively at home whileOdysseus commands armies andbattles monsters, by the end ofthe book their roles seem toconverge: both are patient,cunning, and loyal, and bothhave become famous for theirintelligence and honor. ThoughPenelope, as a woman, cannotgain glory in battle or athletics,she can equal a man in cunningand self-restraint.

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Meanwhile, Odysseus and histhree companions come toLaertes' farm. Odysseus Nndshis father working in thevineyard and weeps to see hisdecrepitude. Despite his pity,he decides to test his father'sloyalty. He tells Laertes that heis a traveller from anotherland, and that he once hostedOdysseus. But Laertes cries tohear Odysseus's name, andOdysseus breaks down andreveals his identity. Laertesasks for proof, so Odysseusshows him the scar anddescribes the fruit treesLaertes gave him when he wasa boy. They embrace joyfully.

Odysseus has defeated thesuitors and regained control ofhis realm, so he has nothing tofear from his father. The test ofloyalty he plans is, once again,the deceit that brings one tosincerity: it allows for completetrust. But Laertes' tears are proofenough. It seems that grief, in thisworld, cannot be faked, so tearsof grief dissolve any disguise.

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As the men eat lunch, Doliusand his sons come in afterworking in the Nelds andhappily greet the long-absentking. The goddess Rumor Oiesaround the town and spreadsthe news of the suitors' deaths.Soon, the dead men's relativescome to gather the corpses.Antinous's father Eupithescalls out for revenge, but theherald Medon warns thecrowd that the gods are onOdysseus's side. Some backdown in fear, but others getready for battle.

Like the suitors, some of therelatives are foolish enough to tryto Bght the gods. To be pious, onemust understand the role thatgods play in the lives of men:piety requires a certain degree ofcleverness and self-control.

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Athena appears at Zeus's sideand asks him if he wants theNghting to continue; he tellsher that the townsmen shouldforget their grievances and livein peace. Back at the farm,Odysseus and the other menget ready to face the armyfrom town. Athena in thedisguise of Mentor givesLaertes great strength and hekills Eupithes with a spear.Athena orders the townsmento stop Nghting, and they Oeein terror; Odysseus obeys thedecree as well. Ithaca is Nnallyat peace.

Notice the symmetry of Laertes,Odysseus's father, killingEupithes, Antinous's father. Theending of the Odyssey might bethe original deus ex machina, or"god from the machine": aliterary device in which acomplicated problem is suddenlyresolved by an unexpectedintervention.Uncharacteristically, Athenaappears undisguised and givesdirect orders. Perhaps the godsare too sly to adhere to patterns;perhaps the end of the storymust be as jarring as the bard'ssudden silence.

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HOW THOW TO CITEO CITEIt's easy to cite LitCharts for use in academic papersand reports.

MLA CITMLA CITAATIONTIONBen Florman and Justin Kestler, LitCharts Editors."LitChart on The Odyssey." LitCharts.com. 16 Nov2015.

CHICACHICAGO MANUGO MANUAL CITAL CITAATIONTIONBen Florman and Justin Kestler, LitCharts Editors."LitChart on The Odyssey." LitCharts.com. 2015.http://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-odyssey.

APAPA CITA CITAATIONTIONBen Florman and Justin Kestler, LitCharts Editors2015. LitChart on The Odyssey. Retrieved November16, 2015 from http://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-odyssey.



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