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
Pallas gives to Ulysses the strong promise of help, reflecting his own
internal condition. She transforms him, he appears a new man, nay a God
to his son, "some divinity whose home is the broad heaven." Then the
recognition follows, with its various doubts and its emotional ups and
downs. "In the breasts of both rose the desire of tears; they wept
shrilly, and louder their screams than those of the eagle whose young
have been stolen from its nest." Lamentation is a trait of the Homeric
hero; in the present case it asserts its fullest right. But enough! let
us pass from heroic tears to heroic deeds.
(3) Next comes the general plan of action. What have we to encounter?
Telemachus gives a catalogue of the Suitors; they reach the surprising
number of 108 persons plus 10 attendants, including the bard and the
herald. We now begin to appreciate the greatness of the task. The
Ithacan people are helpless or hostile, the Suitors have friends and
relatives everywhere, yet they must be punished, they cannot be allowed
to escape. But the aid for such an enterprise--whence? asks Telemachus,
and also the reader. Listen to the answer of Ulysses: "I shall tell
thee, and thou bear it well in mind; think whether Pallas with her
father Zeus be not sufficient for us, or shall I look about for some
other defender?" Such a believer has the skeptic become; he now has
faith in the Gods, and in a World Order. It is also a lofty expression
of belief in his divine mission; the spirit of Eumaeus, which dwells in
that humble hut, has entered the heart of the hero. Such are the two
allies: Pallas, wisdom, and Zeus, fountain of the world's justice,
which had been deeply violated by the Suitors. Telemachus in response,
assents to his father's words, and acknowledges the supremacy of the
Gods. He also lays aside his doubt and shows himself in a spiritual
harmony with his father, which must be antecedent to the deed.
The next part of the plan is that Ulysses in disguise shall go to the
palace and see for himself the wrongs done to his House, and experience
some of these wrongs in his own person. Then too he can make
preparations on the spot and select the time for striking. Also he
wishes to test a little further the wife Penelope. Another period of
disguise is necessary in order to get rid of the necessity of disguise
and vindicate the right. Zeus is with him, he is the bearer of
universal justice, which he is to establish anew; but Pallas must also
be with him in the act, for it requires all his skill and cunning and
forethought.
Thus the father and son are united in spirit; the last obstacle, which
was the disguise, is removed, and they behold each other as they are in
truth. The recognition is not merely an external one of face and form,
or even of the tie of kinship and affection; it is in both a
recognition of the Divine Order of the World, which they are now called
upon to maintain in their own persons, and to re-stablish in their
country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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