This is unit 4/5 on The Odyssey.   Our theme for this section is humility.  OD returns home as a beggar to endure insults & blows from the suitors & corrupt servants.  The contrast is between AG --  who returns home from Troy in triumph & pride that cause him to be an easy victim of treachery -- & OD who creeps back home in the guise of a famished tramp & beggar.

Having learned the advantages of civility, OD is whisked home by the Phaiakians while he sleeps (13.90).  Perhaps his experience in Phaiakia was all a dream?   When he wakes on "one more strange island," OD will not be naked:
13.155    These islanders [Phaiakians]
              have shipped him homeward, sleeping soft, & put him
              On Ithaka, with gifts untold
              of bronze & gold, & fine cloth to his shoulder.
              Never from Troy had he borne off such booty
              if he had got home safe with all his share.

Unfortunately, OD causes trouble even to the Phaiakians:
13.188    Their ocean-going ship
              he [Poseidon] saw already near, heading for harbor;
              so up behind her swam the island-shaker
              & struck her into stone.

Alkinoos sees that his hospitality to OD insulted the hospitality offered by Poseidon:
13.200    This present doom upon the ship . . .
              my father prophesied in the olden time.
              If we gave safe conveyance to all passengers
              we should incur Poseidon's wrath, he said.

Alkinoos decides to abridge his over-generous hospitality:
13.209    We make
              an end henceforth to taking, in our ships,
              castaways who may land upon Skheria

OD has finally landed on Ithaka, but being asleep, he doesn't know that.  Ironically:
13.256    he wept,
              despairing, for his own land
13.259    Athena came to him from the nearby air,
              putting a young man's figure on--a shepherd

This shepherd tells OD exactly what he would like to hear: that he is on Ithaka.  Predictably, OD thinks that this news is too good to be true.  Consequently, he tells a cover story to the boy, hoping to learn more:
13.296    not that he told the truth,
              but, just as she [Athena] did, held back what he knew
              weighing within himself at every step
              what he made up to serve his turn.

You might think that Athena would be angry to be lied to, but you would be wrong!
13.338    Athena smiled, & gave him a caress,
              her looks being changed now, so she seemed a woman,
              tall & beautiful & no doubt skilled
              at weaving splendid things.

Why does she approve of OD's lies?  First, one must know something of the truth in order to protect it with lies.  Strangely, the liar here shows that he is a devotee of Athena, because he is being analytic, self-conscious, & in pursuit of the truth or the confirmation of the truth.  Secondly, in a sense civilization is a weaving of splendid things that are, strictly speaking, lies.  We carve up our experience & associate arbitrary sounds to them. "This is a tree.  I am John."  Are these true?  For a time & in a particular context.  The point is that truth is not a pre-existing entity.  Truth is a sentence & a concept.  These only exist in cultured, human minds.  We cannot even say they exist in human minds.  One must first have learned a language.  Truth is not uncovered or discovered; it is predicated or proposed in a proposition.  What is the true name of the divine?  Interestingly, the Sikh religion uses exactly that expression for the divine: The True Name.  In any case, Athena approves of OD's faith in analytic methods:
13.350    Two of a kind, we are,
              contrivers, both

She tells OD:
13.359    I am here again to counsel with you
Isn't that an interesting choice of words?  In the prophetic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), God commands & the only acceptable response is total submission (which is what the word Islam means) & obedience. The point here is not that the Greek divinities are any less august.  Athena is reason personified.  Reason does not command.  It convinces.  Athena offers counsel.  Would AK listen?  He is a man of commands, not a man of reason.  That was exactly why he perished.  Before we can effectively listen to the voice of reason, we must escape the clamor of insistent emotions.  So, in a way, Athena does command:
 13.364    Patience, iron patience, you must show . . . .
               Be silent
               under all injuries, even blows from men.

Athena construes this same point a little differently: if you are temperate & analytical (skeptical), your can be confident that reason will deliver you (& the polis) from danger:
13.387    Always the same [emotional] detachment!  This is why
              I [Reason] cannot fail you, in your evil fortune [danger]
              coolheaded, quick, well-spoken as you are!
              Would not another wandering man, in joy,
              make haste home to his wife & children [like AG]?

OD is quick to get the point:
13.447    An end like AG's
              might very likely have been mine, a bad end,
              bleeding to death in my own hall.  You forestalled it,
              goddess . . . .
              Weave me a way to pay them back [for their injustice; thus:
              help me weave justice]!

Athena informed OD that the suitors have occupied his house for 3 years & that in order to get his family & property back, OD will have to study the problem by going home disguised:
13.464    I [Athena] shall transform you [OD]; not a soul will know you,
              the clear skin of your arms & legs shriveled . . .
              your body dressed
              in sacking that a man would gag to see.

Book 14 opens with OD threatened by his own watchdogs.
14.31    Like a tricky beggar
            he [OD] sat down plump [on the ground]

Eumaios, the swineherd, calls them off.  Eumaios is the most loyal of OD's servants.  Another Chat question.  Eumaios & Antinoos are contrasts in regard to loyalty & gratitude.  If you didn't know the character of each man, who would you predict would have the greater reason to be grateful?  What point does Homer make by offering this contrast in regard to predicting civic loyalty & dedication?  Just as you have seen me doing (in quoting lines & then explicating their significance), you need to find the precise lines that explain both Antinoos' history with OD & Eumaios' history with OD.

Although he has almost nothing, Eumaios extends hospitality to the beggar [OD] that the dogs almost ate:
14.50    Come to the cabin.
            You must eat something, drink some wine . . . .
            The forester now led him to his hut
            piled for a mattress under a wild goat skin,
            shaggy & thick, his own bed covering.

Notice the humor in regard to Eumaios.  Why is this boast funny?
14.110   Not 20 heroes
             in the whole word were as rich as he

I am sure that you know Homer's theme by now: an unconditional commitment to power (violence) is a self-destructive mistake.  Paradoxically, temperance, civility, & respect nurture civic friendship that produces both the good life & the power to sustain it.  Thus OD's cover story to Eumaios provides a familiar lesson:
14.245   That was my element,
             war & battle.  Farming [agri-culture] I never cared for
             nor life at home, nor fathering fair children.
             I reveled in long ships . . . .
             Carnage suited me . . . .
             I led men on 9 cruises in corsairs
             to raid strange coasts, & [took]
             rich spoils on the spot . . . .
             So my house grew prosperous

The obvious question, that Eumaios is too polite to ask, is where is it all now?  Why are you a famished bum on the road?  See where your life of violence has gotten you.  You now beg food from the lowest servant in the house.

Notice how pious Eumaios is:
14.470  The gods,
            as ever, had their due in the swineherd's thought,
            for he it was who tossed the forehead bristles
            as a first offering on the flames, calling
            upon the immortal gods to let OD
            reach his home once more

Roasting the meat, Eumaios makes another sacrifice:
14.480  Eumaios . . .
            put lean strips on the fat of sacrifice,
            floured each one with barley meal, & cast it
            into the blaze.

Did you get the point?  If most people bothered at all, they would trim the fat & offer it to the fire.  You see how Eumaios imagines that he is cooking a portion to be offered to the gods.  When the meat is ready, Eumaios divides:
14.486  all that meat in 7 portions--,
            1 to be set aside, with proper prayers,
            for the wood nymphs & Hermes

When he serves meat to OD, Eumaios is still not finished praying:
14.496    Bless you, stranger, fall to & enjoy it
              for what it is.  Zeus grants us this or that,
              or else refrains from granting, as he wills;
              all things are in his power.
              He cut & burnt a morsel for the gods who are young forever,
              tipped out some wine

It is one thing to pray & offer food & wine to the gods, when there is plenty.  OD now wants to know how much Eumaios will suffer for the sake of hospitality.  OD tries:
14.516    tries
              to put it in his [Eumaios] head to take his cloak off
              & lend it

Read this section to find out what happens.  Does OD get a coat or blanket?  Does Eumaios take his off to give OD?  This will be a short answer question.  The book ends with Eumaios illustrating the virtuous of an almost perfect citizen.  OD sleep, well fed & warm, while Eumaios sits in the cold rain vigilant in defense of the city:
14.585    OD dropped off to sleep . . . .
              But not the swineherd:
              not in the hut could he lie down in peace,
              but now equipped himself for the night outside

In book 15 Athena fetches TEL home from Argos, where the boy was visiting MEN & Helen.  Meanwhile OD continues to test Eumaios' hospitality.  It is one thing to be polite, generous, & hospitable for a day or two.  After some period of time, we begin to wonder when our guest will leave.  OD tempts Eumaios to bid him farewell when he tells the servant that he is grateful for the meal, but needs to beg from those who have more to offer, viz., those in the palace.  Eumaios responds:
15.375   You dally with your life, & nothing less,
             if you feel drawn to mingle in that company--
             [who are] reckless, violent, & famous for it.
15.383   Stay with us here.  No one is burdened by you,
             neither myself nor any of my hands.
             Wait here until OD's son returns.
             You shall have clothing from him

In book 16 the tables turn & OD is the one tested.  TEL suddenly appears at Eumaios' hut before OD has left for the palace:
15.19    Think of a man whose dear & only son,
            born to him in exile, reared with labor,
            has lived 10 years abroad & now returns:
            how would that man embrace his son!
Or course, we think "that man" is OD.  So it is a surprise when:
15.23    the herdsman clapped his arms around TEL
            & covered him with kisses--for he knew
            the lad ha got away from death [at the suitor's hands].

OD has to stand by & watch his son treat Eumaios as his father!  TEL then implies how much he needs a true father, saying that he cannot extend hospitality to Eumaios' friend, because he could not protect him from the malicious behavior of the suitors:
15.73    How can I
            receive your friend at home?  I am not old enough
            or trained in arms.  Could I defend myself
            if someone picked a fight with me?
            Besides,
            mother is in a quandary.

Just as OD has prompted Eumaios to bid him farewell & be glad to be rid of the burden of taking care of him, OD now prompts TEL to complain about his long absent father:
15.102   The townsmen,
             stirred up against you, are they . . . ?
             A man should feel his kin, at least behind him
             in any clash, when a real fight is coming.

When he doesn't Athena intervenes, telling OD to::
15.179  dissemble to your son no longer now.
            The time has come: tell him how you together
            will bring doom on the suitors in the town.
            I shall not be far distant then, for I
            myself desire battle.

When OD reveals his identity, he thereby makes himself vulnerable to TEL.  There is a good chance that TEL may say something like, "you think you are my father?  Where have you been for the past 20 years when I needed a father?  Eumaios is the only father I know."  OD invites such a rebuke:
15.199  I am that father whom your boyhood lacked
            & suffered pain for lack of.  I am he [the guy to blame].

You recall that in the early books of the ODY, TEL struggled between acting as a man & reverting to childhood.  We smile to see something like this still occurring.  TEL doesn't criticize his father, but asks (before he can think that it might be critical), "where are your sailors, who could be our allies against the suitors?"
15.238    Your sailors, who were they?
              I doubt you made it, walking on the sea!

OD has to admit that it looks like:
15.254    we 2 by ourselves [must] taken them on

TEL tells his father:
15.259    what you speak of is a staggering thing

How many suitors are there?  Yes, another short answer question.
I have been surprised to find that my traditional class students say they have never heard such expressions as:
16.170    not to everyone will gods appear
16.317    Tempered iron can magnetize a man.

Antinoos & the suitors discover that TEL "escaped" their control & believe that he went abroad to seek allies in an attempt to expel the suitors & see justice done:
16.370    sullen confusion weighed upon the suitors
16.375    that young pup, TEL, has done it;
              he made the round trip, though we said he could not.

Antinoos now plans a more direct method to deal with TEL:
16.406    Well, let this company plan his destruction,
              & leave him no way out, this time
16.409    He knows, now [that we plan to kill him], & he's no fool.  Besides,
              his people are all tired of playing up to us.
              I say, act now, before he brings the whole
              body of Akhaians to assembly--
              & he would leave no word unsaid, in righteous
              anger . . .
              of how we plotted murder, & then missed him.

Amphinomos is the best of the suitors.  3 times he speaks against murdering TEL.
16.439    I should not like to kill TEL.
              It is a shivery thing to kill a prince
Do not too quickly infer that Amphinomos is virtuous.  Homer says:
16.337    he meant no ill
Here Amphinomos' motive seems to be fear of the consequences of murdering a prince.  Elsewhere, when he again argues against killing TEL, his motive seems to be muted fear.  His immediate counsel is to drink, party, & have a good time rather than turn to grim murder.

Book 17 begins with a scene between mother & son.  PEN knows that Antinoos has plans to murder her son.  She may know that TEL has just escaped an attempt on his life:
17.46    Back with me!
            I thought I should not see you again, ever

Powerless to protect her son, PEN invites TEL to be her little boy again for a short time.  She does this by inviting him to prattle about his adventure:
17.50    Tell me now
            of everything you saw!

TEL has orders from OD to carry out.  Consequently he speaks to his mother like a man::
17.52    Mother, not now.

PEN:
17.63    caught back the swift words upon her tongue.
She mulls over their situation: the threat of murder that she may be able to avert, if she consents to marry one of the suitors; her 20 year vigil waiting for a husband who seems destined never to return.  In effect, PEN says, "if you are really a man, TEL, act like one by taking command of this situation . . . like your father would do:"
17.113    TEL,
              what am I to do now?  Return alone
              & lie again on my forsaken bed
              sodden how often with my weeping

Mom may even talk about her sex life!  Quickly TEL does what?  He reverts to being the boy she initially invited him to be!  TEL prattles on about what he saw at Nestor's palace & at Menalaos' palace.

With TEL & PEN dreaming of OD's return, the very man enters his own house, insulted by the worst of the servants, Melanthios the goat herd who asks Eumaios:
17.249    where are you taking your new pig,
              that stinking beggar there, licker of pots?

So:
17.385    OD came
              through his own doorway as a mendicant,
              humped like a bundle of rages over his stick
Do not misread this as Christian humility & stewardship.  In part this is tactical.  OD will take back what is rightfully his.  In part -- as is always the case in Homer -- this offers symbolic moral advice about citizenship.  Do we want someone like AG to return to his city & immediately begin to threaten everyone?  Of course, we prefer power that approaches with something like OD's humility & patience.

From this point on, there is a theme of subliminal recognition.  Who recognizes OD?  No one explicitly & overtly recognizes him, but many characters subliminally or unconsciously come very close to recognizing him, including Antinoos, who has good reason to deny what he feels.  Antinoos spent much of his youth comparing his father to his foster father, OD.  Antinoos' maliciousness must be motivated in part by the feeling that if he could abase OD's family, his own father & he himself might not appear as evil as they are.  In any case, when Antinoos sees OD (the beggar), he comments:
17.523    These men have bread to throw away on you
              because it is not theirs.  Who cares?  Who spares
              another's food, when he has more than plenty?
There is an important civics lesson here.  What is it?  You guessed it, this is another Chat question.

You recall how tempered metal can magnetize?
17.537    The stool he [Antinoos] let fly hit the man's [OD] right shoulder
This blow doesn't seem to have much affect on OD.  Why, then, does it deserve so much comment?
17.550    Antinoos
              hit me for being driven on by hunger
Even one of the suitors comments:
17.563    A poor show, that--hitting this famished tramp
PEN also comments:
17.584    Here is a poor man come, a wanderer [hoping for hospitality]
              . . . Antinoos threw a stool, & banged his shoulder!

The obvious answer is that it is an outrage against hospitality.  It also illustrates the casual violence inflicted on the powerless without a thought of consequences.  Why does Athena put OD through these various humiliations?  This is partly why such a big deal is made of this incident: because OD (the beggar) is powerless to do anything else.  I almost answered this question.  Let's see what you say in the Chat session.  See you there.
 

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