Odysseus is a very different kind of hero than th

Odysseus is a very different kind of hero than the ones we focused on in The Iliad. Compare him to at least two other heroic characters from The Iliad. You can choose any Greek and/or Trojan hero for your comparison. Finally, consider which one of these heroes you think is the most heroic, and explain why. Be sure to use specific examples and/or quotations from the text.

(make sure the book title should be italicize)

Guidelines

· Your initial response should be at least 1,000 words in length

· Use MLA format for any quotations or citations that you use to support your answer

,

Provided by The Internet Classics Archive.

See bottom for copyright. Available online at

http://classics.mit.edu//Homer/odyssey.html

The Odyssey

By Homer

Translated by Samuel Butler

———————————————————————-

BOOK I

Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide

after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit,

and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted;

moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life

and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save

his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating

the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from

ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, O daughter

of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them.

So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely

home except Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to return to his

wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got

him into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by,

there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to

Ithaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, his

troubles were not yet over; nevertheless all the gods had now begun

to pity him except Neptune, who still persecuted him without ceasing

and would not let him get home.

Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the world's

end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East.

He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was

enjoying himself at his festival; but the other gods met in the house

of Olympian Jove, and the sire of gods and men spoke first. At that

moment he was thinking of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's

son Orestes; so he said to the other gods:

"See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing

but their own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must needs make love to

Agamemnon's wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, though he

knew it would be the death of him; for I sent Mercury to warn him

not to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure

to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home. Mercury

told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he

has paid for everything in full."

Then Minerva said, "Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, it served

Aegisthus right, and so it would any one else who does as he did;

but Aegisthus is neither here nor there; it is for Ulysses that my

heart bleeds, when I think of his sufferings in that lonely sea-girt

island, far away, poor man, from all his friends. It is an island

covered with forest, in the very middle of the sea, and a goddess

lives there, daughter of the magician Atlas, who looks after the bottom

of the ocean, and carries the great columns that keep heaven and earth

asunder. This daughter of Atlas has got hold of poor unhappy Ulysses,

and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to make him forget

his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinks of nothing but how

he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys. You, sir, take

no heed of this, and yet when Ulysses was before Troy did he not propitiate

you with many a burnt sacrifice? Why then should you keep on being

so angry with him?"

And Jove said, "My child, what are you talking about? How can I forget

Ulysses than whom there is no more capable man on earth, nor more

liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven?

Bear in mind, however, that Neptune is still furious with Ulysses

for having blinded an eye of Polyphemus king of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus

is son to Neptune by the nymph Thoosa, daughter to the sea-king Phorcys;

therefore though he will not kill Ulysses outright, he torments him

by preventing him from getting home. Still, let us lay our heads together

and see how we can help him to return; Neptune will then be pacified,

for if we are all of a mind he can hardly stand out against us."

And Minerva said, "Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, if, then,

the gods now mean that Ulysses should get home, we should first send

Mercury to the Ogygian island to tell Calypso that we have made up

our minds and that he is to return. In the meantime I will go to Ithaca,

to put heart into Ulysses' son Telemachus; I will embolden him to

call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his

mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep

and oxen; I will also conduct him to Sparta and to Pylos, to see if

he can hear anything about the return of his dear father- for this

will make people speak well of him."

So saying she bound on her glittering golden sandals, imperishable,

with which she can fly like the wind over land or sea; she grasped

the redoubtable bronze-shod spear, so stout and sturdy and strong,

wherewith she quells the ranks of heroes who have displeased her,

and down she darted from the topmost summits of Olympus, whereon forthwith

she was in Ithaca, at the gateway of Ulysses' house, disguised as

a visitor, Mentes, chief of the Taphians, and she held a bronze spear

in her hand. There she found the lordly suitors seated on hides of

the oxen which they had killed and eaten, and playing draughts in

front of the house. Men-servants and pages were bustling about to

wait upon them, some mixing wine with water in the mixing-bowls, some

cleaning down the tables with wet sponges and laying them out again,

and some cutting up great quantities of meat.

Telemachus saw her long before any one else did. He was sitting moodily

among the suitors thinking about his brave father, and how he would

send them flying out of the house, if he were to come to his own again

and be honoured as in days gone by. Thus brooding as he sat among

them, he caught sight of Minerva and went straight to the gate, for

he was vexed that a stranger should be kept waiting for admittance.

He took her right hand in his own, and bade her give him her spear.

"Welcome," said he, "to our house, and when you have partaken of food

you shall tell us what you have come for."

He led the way as he spoke, and Minerva followed him. When they were

within he took her spear and set it in the spear- stand against a

strong bearing-post along with the many other spears of his unhappy

father, and he conducted her to a richly decorated seat under which

he threw a cloth of damask. There was a footstool also for her feet,

and he set another seat near her for himself, away from the suitors,

that she might not be annoyed while eating by their noise and insolence,

and that he might ask her more freely about his father.

A maid servant then brought them water in a beautiful golden ewer

and poured it into a silver basin for them to wash their hands, and

she drew a clean table beside them. An upper servant brought them

bread, and offered them many good things of what there was in the

house, the carver fetched them plates of all manner of meats and set

cups of gold by their side, and a man-servant brought them wine and

poured it out for them.

Then the suitors came in and took their places on the benches and

seats. Forthwith men servants poured water over their hands, maids

went round with the bread-baskets, pages filled the mixing-bowls with

wine and water, and they laid their hands upon the good things that

were before them. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink

they wanted music and dancing, which are the crowning embellishments

of a banquet, so a servant brought a lyre to Phemius, whom they compelled

perforce to sing to them. As soon as he touched his lyre and began

to sing Telemachus spoke low to Minerva, with his head close to hers

that no man might hear.

"I hope, sir," said he, "that you will not be offended with what I

am going to say. Singing comes cheap to those who do not pay for it,

and all this is done at the cost of one whose bones lie rotting in

some wilderness or grinding to powder in the surf. If these men were

to see my father come back to Ithaca they would pray for longer legs

rather than a longer purse, for money would not serve them; but he,

alas, has fallen on an ill fate, and even when people do sometimes

say that he is coming, we no longer heed them; we shall never see

him again. And now, sir, tell me and tell me true, who you are and

where you come from. Tell me of your town and parents, what manner

of ship you came in, how your crew brought you to Ithaca, and of what

nation they declared themselves to be- for you cannot have come by

land. Tell me also truly, for I want to know, are you a stranger to

this house, or have you been here in my father's time? In the old

days we had many visitors for my father went about much himself."

And Minerva answered, "I will tell you truly and particularly all

about it. I am Mentes, son of Anchialus, and I am King of the Taphians.

I have come here with my ship and crew, on a voyage to men of a foreign

tongue being bound for Temesa with a cargo of iron, and I shall bring

back copper. As for my ship, it lies over yonder off the open country

away from the town, in the harbour Rheithron under the wooded mountain

Neritum. Our fathers were friends before us, as old Laertes will tell

you, if you will go and ask him. They say, however, that he never

comes to town now, and lives by himself in the country, faring hardly,

with an old woman to look after him and get his dinner for him, when

he comes in tired from pottering about his vineyard. They told me

your father was at home again, and that was why I came, but it seems

the gods are still keeping him back, for he is not dead yet not on

the mainland. It is more likely he is on some sea-girt island in mid

ocean, or a prisoner among savages who are detaining him against his

will I am no prophet, and know very little about omens, but I speak

as it is borne in upon me from heaven, and assure you that he will

not be away much longer; for he is a man of such resource that even

though he were in chains of iron he would find some means of getting

home again. But tell me, and tell me true, can Ulysses really have

such a fine looking fellow for a son? You are indeed wonderfully like

him about the head and eyes, for we were close friends before he set

sail for Troy where the flower of all the Argives went also. Since

that time we have never either of us seen the other."

"My mother," answered Telemachus, tells me I am son to Ulysses, but

it is a wise child that knows his own father. Would that I were son

to one who had grown old upon his own estates, for, since you ask

me, there is no more ill-starred man under heaven than he who they

tell me is my father."

And Minerva said, "There is no fear of your race dying out yet, while

Penelope has such a fine son as you are. But tell me, and tell me

true, what is the meaning of all this feasting, and who are these

people? What is it all about? Have you some banquet, or is there a

wedding in the family- for no one seems to be bringing any provisions

of his own? And the guests- how atrociously they are behaving; what

riot they make over the whole house; it is enough to disgust any respectable

person who comes near them."

"Sir," said Telemachus, "as regards your question, so long as my father

was here it was well with us and with the house, but the gods in their

displeasure have willed it otherwise, and have hidden him away more

closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden. I could have borne it

better even though he were dead, if he had fallen with his men before

Troy, or had died with friends around him when the days of his fighting

were done; for then the Achaeans would have built a mound over his

ashes, and I should myself have been heir to his renown; but now the

storm-winds have spirited him away we know not wither; he is gone

without leaving so much as a trace behind him, and I inherit nothing

but dismay. Nor does the matter end simply with grief for the loss

of my father; heaven has laid sorrows upon me of yet another kind;

for the chiefs from all our islands, Dulichium, Same, and the woodland

island of Zacynthus, as also all the principal men of Ithaca itself,

are eating up my house under the pretext of paying their court to

my mother, who will neither point blank say that she will not marry,

nor yet bring matters to an end; so they are making havoc of my estate,

and before long will do so also with myself."

"Is that so?" exclaimed Minerva, "then you do indeed want Ulysses

home again. Give him his helmet, shield, and a couple lances, and

if he is the man he was when I first knew him in our house, drinking

and making merry, he would soon lay his hands about these rascally

suitors, were he to stand once more upon his own threshold. He was

then coming from Ephyra, where he had been to beg poison for his arrows

from Ilus, son of Mermerus. Ilus feared the ever-living gods and would

not give him any, but my father let him have some, for he was very

fond of him. If Ulysses is the man he then was these suitors will

have a short shrift and a sorry wedding.

"But there! It rests with heaven to determine whether he is to return,

and take his revenge in his own house or no; I would, however, urge

you to set about trying to get rid of these suitors at once. Take

my advice, call the Achaean heroes in assembly to-morrow -lay your

case before them, and call heaven to bear you witness. Bid the suitors

take themselves off, each to his own place, and if your mother's mind

is set on marrying again, let her go back to her father, who will

find her a husband and provide her with all the marriage gifts that

so dear a daughter may expect. As for yourself, let me prevail upon

you to take the best ship you can get, with a crew of twenty men,

and go in quest of your father who has so long been missing. Some

one may tell you something, or (and people often hear things in this

way) some heaven-sent message may direct you. First go to Pylos and

ask Nestor; thence go on to Sparta and visit Menelaus, for he got

home last of all the Achaeans; if you hear that your father is alive

and on his way home, you can put up with the waste these suitors will

make for yet another twelve months. If on the other hand you hear

of his death, come home at once, celebrate his funeral rites with

all due pomp, build a barrow to his memory, and make your mother marry

again. Then, having done all this, think it well over in your mind

how, by fair means or foul, you may kill these suitors in your own

house. You are too old to plead infancy any longer; have you not heard

how people are singing Orestes' praises for having killed his father's

murderer Aegisthus? You are a fine, smart looking fellow; show your

mettle, then, and make yourself a name in story. Now, however, I must

go back to my ship and to my crew, who will be impatient if I keep

them waiting longer; think the matter over for yourself, and remember

what I have said to you."

"Sir," answered Telemachus, "it has been very kind of you to talk

to me in this way, as though I were your own son, and I will do all

you tell me; I know you want to be getting on with your voyage, but

stay a little longer till you have taken a bath and refreshed yourself.

I will then give you a present, and you shall go on your way rejoicing;

I will give you one of great beauty and value- a keepsake such as

only dear friends give to one another."

Minerva answered, "Do not try to keep me, for I would be on my way

at once. As for any present you may be disposed to make me, keep it

till I come again, and I will take it home with me. You shall give

me a very good one, and I will give you one of no less value in return."

With these words she flew away like a bird into the air, but she had

given Telemachus courage, and had made him think more than ever about

his father. He felt the change, wondered at it, and knew that the

stranger had been a god, so he went straight to where the suitors

were sitting.

Phemius was still singing, and his hearers sat rapt in silence as

he told the sad tale of the return from Troy, and the ills Minerva

had laid upon the Achaeans. Penelope, daughter of Icarius, heard his

song from her room upstairs, and came down by the great staircase,

not alone, but attended by two of her handmaids. When she reached

the suitors she stood by one of the bearing posts that supported the

roof of the cloisters with a staid maiden on either side of her. She

held a veil, moreover, before her face, and was weeping bitterly.

"Phemius," she cried, "you know many another feat of gods and heroes,

such as poets love to celebrate. Sing the suitors some one of these,

and let them drink their wine in silence, but cease this sad tale,

for it breaks my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband

whom I mourn ever without ceasing, and whose name was great over all

Hellas and middle Argos."

"Mother," answered Telemachus, "let the bard sing what he has a mind

to; bards do not make the ills they sing of; it is Jove, not they,

who makes them, and who sends weal or woe upon mankind according to

his own good pleasure. This fellow means no harm by singing the ill-fated

return of the Danaans, for people always applaud the latest songs

most warmly. Make up your mind to it and bear it; Ulysses is not the

only man who never came back from Troy, but many another went down

as well as he. Go, then, within the house and busy yourself with your

daily duties, your loom, your distaff, and the ordering of your servants;

for speech is man's matter, and mine above all others- for it is I

who am master here."

She went wondering back into the house, and laid her son's saying

in her heart. Then, going upstairs with her handmaids into her room,

she mourned her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep over her

eyes. But the suitors were clamorous throughout the covered cloisters,

and prayed each one that he might be her bed fellow.

Then Telemachus spoke, "Shameless," he cried, "and insolent suitors,

let us feast at our pleasure now, and let there be no brawling, for

it is a rare thing to hear a man with such a divine voice as Phemius

has; but in the morning meet me in full assembly that I may give you

formal notice to depart, and feast at one another's houses, turn and

turn about, at your own cost. If on the other hand you choose to persist

in spunging upon one man, heaven help me, but Jove shall reckon with

you in full, and when you fall in my father's house there shall be

no man to avenge you."

The suitors bit their lips as they heard him, and marvelled at the

boldness of his speech. Then, Antinous, son of Eupeithes, said, "The

gods seem to have given you lessons in bluster and tall talking; may

Jove never grant you to be chief in Ithaca as your father was before

you."

Telemachus answered, "Antinous, do not chide with me, but, god willing,

I will be chief too if I can. Is this the worst fate you can think

of for me? It is no bad thing to be a chief, for it brings both riches

and honour. Still, now that Ulysses is dead there are many great men

in Ithaca both old and young, and some other may take the lead among

them; nevertheless I will be chief in my own house, and will rule

those whom Ulysses has won for me."

Then Eurymachus, son of Polybus, answered, "It rests with heaven to

decide who shall be chief among us, but you shall be master in your

own house and over your own possessions; no one while there is a man

in Ithaca shall do you violence nor rob you. And now, my good fellow,

I want to know about this stranger. What country does he come from?

Of what family is he, and where is his estate? Has he brought you

news about the return of your father, or was he on business of his

own? He seemed a well-to-do man, but he hurried off so suddenly that

he was gone in a moment before we could get to know him."

"My father is dead and gone," answered Telemachus, "and even if some

rumour reaches me I put no more faith in it now. My mother does indeed

sometimes send for a soothsayer and question him, but I give his prophecyings

no heed. As for the stranger, he was Mentes, son of Anchialus, chief

of the Taphians, an old friend of my father's." But in his heart he

knew that it had been the goddess.

The suitors then returned to their singing and dancing until the evening;

but when night fell upon their pleasuring they went home to bed each

in his own abode. Telemachus's room was high up in a tower that looked

on to the outer court; hither, then, he hied, brooding and full of

thought. A good old woman, Euryclea, daughter of Ops, the son of Pisenor,

went before him with a couple of blazing torches. Laertes had bought

her with his own money when she was quite young; he gave the worth

of twenty oxen for her, and shewed as much respect to her in his household

as he did to his own wedded wife, but he did not take her to his bed

for he feared his wife's resentment. She it was who now lighted Telemachus

to his room, and she loved him better than any of the other women

in the house did, for she had nursed him when he was a baby. He opened

the door of his bed room and sat down upon the bed; as he took off

his shirt he gave it to the good old woman, who folded it tidily up,

and hung it for him over a peg by his bed side, after which she went

out, pulled the door to by a silver catch, and drew the bolt home

by means of the strap. But Telemachus as he lay covered with a woollen

fleece kept thinking all night through of his intended voyage of the

counsel that Minerva had given him.

———————————————————————-

BOOK II

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus

rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet,

girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking like

an immortal god. He at once sent the criers round to call the people

in assembly, so they called them and the people gathered thereon;

then, when they were got together, he went to the place of assembly

spear in hand- not alone, for his two hounds went with him. Minerva

endowed him with a presence of such divine comeliness that all marvelled

at him as he went by, and when he took his place' in his father's

seat even the oldest councillors made way for him.

Aegyptius, a man bent double with age, and of infinite experience,

the first to speak His son Antiphus had gone with Ulysses to Ilius,

land of noble steeds, but the savage Cyclops had killed him when they

were all shut up in the cave, and had cooked his last dinner for him,

He had three sons left, of whom two still worked on their father's

land, while the third, Eurynomus, was one of the suitors; nevertheless

their father could not get over the loss of Antiphus, and was still

weeping for him when he began his speech.

"Men of Ithaca," he said, "hear my words. From the day Ulysses left

us there has been no meeting of our councillors until now; who then

can it be, whether old or young, that finds it so necessary to convene

us? Has he got wind of some host approaching, and does he wish to

warn us, or would he speak upon some other matter of public moment?

I am sure he is an excellent person, and I hope Jove will grant him

his heart's desire."

Telemachus took this speech as of good omen and rose at once, for

he was bursting with what he had to say. He stood in the middle of

the assembly and the good herald Pisenor brought him his staff. Then,

turning to Aegyptius, "Sir," said he, "it is I, as you will shortly

learn, who have convened you, for it is I who am the most aggrieved.

I have not got wind of any host approaching about which I would warn

you, nor is there any matter of public moment on which I would speak.

My grieveance is purely personal, and turns on two great misfortunes

which have fallen upon my house. The first of these is the loss of

my excellent father, who was chief among all you here present, and

was like a father to every one of you; the second is much more serious,

and ere long will be the utter ruin of my estate. The sons of all

the chief men among you are pestering my mother to marry them against

her will. They are afraid to go to her father Icarius, asking him

to choose the one he likes best, and to provide marriage gifts for

his daughter, but day by day they keep hanging about my father's house,

sacrificing our oxen, sheep, and fat goats for their banquets, and

never giving so much as a thought to the quantity of wine they drink.

No estate can stand such recklessness; we have now no Ulysses to ward

off harm from our doors, and I cannot hold my own against them. I

shall never all my days be as good a man as he was, still I would

indeed defend myself if I had power to do so, for I cannot stand such

treatment any longer; my house is being disgraced and ruined. Have

respect, therefore, to your own consciences and to public opinion.

Fear, too, the wrath of heaven, lest the gods should be displeased

and turn upon you. I pray you by Jove and Themis, who is the beginning

and the end of councils, [do not] hold back, my friends, and leave

me singlehanded- unless it be that my brave father Ulysses did some

wrong to the Achaeans which you would now avenge on me, by aiding

and abetting these suitors. Moreover, if I am to be eaten out of house

and home at all, I had rather you did the eating yourselves, for I

could then take action against you to some purpose, and serve you

with notices from house to house till I got paid in full, whereas

now I have no remedy."

With this Telemachus dashed his staff to the ground and burst into

tears. Every one was very sorry for him, but they all sat still and

no one ventured to make him an angry answer, save only Antinous, who

spoke thus:

"Telemachus, insolent braggart that you are, how dare you try to throw

the blame upon us suitors? It is your mother's fault not ours, for

she is a very artful woman. This three years past, and close on four,

she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one

of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she

says. And then there was that other trick she played us. She set up

a great tambour frame in her room, and began to work on an enormous

piece of fine needlework. 'Sweet hearts,' said she, 'Ulysses is indeed

dead, still do not press me to marry again immediately, wait- for

I would not have skill in needlework perish unrecorded- till I have

completed a pall for the hero Laertes, to be in readiness against

the time when death shall take him. He is very rich, and the women

of the place will talk if he is laid out without a pall.'

"This was what she said, and we assented; whereon we could see her

working on her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick

the stitches again by torchlight. She fooled us in this way for three

years and we never found her out, but as time wore on and she was

now in her fourth year, one of her maids who knew what she was doing

told us, and we caught her in the act of undoing her work, so she

had to finish it whether she would or no. The suitors, therefore,

make you this answer, that both you and the Achaeans may understand-'Send

your mother away, and bid her marry the man of her own and of her

father's choice'; for I do not know what will happen if she goes on

plaguing us much longer with the airs she gives herself on the score

of the accomplishments Minerva has taught her, and because she is

so clever. We never yet heard of such a woman; we know all about Tyro,

Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were nothing

to your mother, any one of them. It was not fair of her to treat us

in that way, and as long as she continues in the mind with which heaven

has now endowed her, so long shall we go on eating up your estate;

and I do not see why she should change, for she gets all the honour

and glory, and it is you who pay for it, not she. Understand, then,

that we will not go back to our lands, neither here nor elsewhere,

till she has made her choice and married some one or other of us."

Telemachus answered, "Antinous, how can I drive the mother who bore

me from my father's house? My father is abroad and we do n

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