Homer's Odyssey: A CommentarySnider, Denton Jaques
Philosophy
Homer's Odyssey: A Commentary
Snider, Denton Jaques
Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer. Odyssey; Odysseus, King of Ithaca (Mythological character) -- In literature
The scheme shows the structure of these four Books (XIII-XVI),
organized of course by Pallas. Ulysses is to go to the swineherd who is
loyal, and will give shelter. Telemachus is to be brought to the same
place by Pallas, not externally, as we shall see, but through the free
act of Telemachus himself. Thus the three chosen men are gathered
together in their unsuspected fortress. Two things we must note in
regard to these movements: they are wholly voluntary on part of the
persons making them, yet they belong in the Divine Order, and thus are
the work of the deity. Free-Will and Providence do not trammel each
other, but harmoniously co-operate to the same end. So carefully and
completely is this thought elaborated that we may consider it
fundamental in the creed of the poet.
In such manner the weak, finite Ulysses is brought into communion with
the immortal Goddess. Yet he, the poor frail mortal, drops for a moment
even here. When Pallas speaks of Telemachus having gone to Sparta, to
learn about his father, Ulysses petulantly asks: "Why did not you, who
know all things, tell that to him" without the peril of such a journey?
The answer of Pallas is clear; I sent him in order that he might be a
man among men, and have the good fame of his action. Telemachus, too,
must be a free man; that is the education of Pallas. The Goddess will
help him only when he helps himself. Divinity is not to sap human
volition, but to enforce it; she would unmake Telemachus, if she
allowed him to stay at home and do nothing, tied to his mother's apron
strings.
And here we cannot help noting an observation on Homer's poetry. It
must be in the reader ere he can see it in the book. Unless he be ready
for its spirit, it will not appear, certainly it will not speak. There
must be a rise into the vision of Homeric poetry on the part of the
reader, as there is a rise into the vision of the Goddess on the part
of Ulysses. The two sides, the human and the divine, or the Terrestrial
and the Olympian, must meet and commune; thus the reader, too, in
perusing Homer, must become heroic and behold the Gods.
_BOOK FOURTEENTH._
The Book begins with another transition in place; Ulysses passes from
the sea-shore, with its haven, grot, and olive-tree up into the
mountain, to the hut of Eumaeus. We have quite a full description of the
latter's abode; there is a lodge surrounded by a court and a wall;
within this inclosure are the sties, and the droves of swine over which
he is the keeper, with four assistants. Nor must we omit the fierce
dogs, savage as wild beasts. Such is the new environment which Ulysses
enters, and which has at its center a human being who gives character
to this little world. Again we catch a clear quick glimpse of the Greek
landscape in one of its phases.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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