Although he later will prove to be a sly manipulator when cornered, here, Eurymachus has no fear and insolently dismisses omens, Odysseus, and the prince. He and the suitors will do whatever they want. It is for others to adjust to them. In the end, the meeting serves to reveal the suitors to the public, but nothing is done about them.
The assembly is an early, somewhat weak example of representative government. It anticipates the later democracies of Athens and other Greek city-states. Despite ruling by power, kings are not absolute monarchs. Their peers influence and sometimes approve or disapprove of policy. Nor is the crown necessarily hereditary. It is won by strength, wealth, and conquest. Thus Antinous and Eurymachus think they might rule, especially if either can wed Penelope. She, on the other hand, stalls for three reasons: a hope for Odysseus' return, a desire to avoid civil war, and a real concern for her son's safety.
Her marriage would force a showdown for the crown, and Telemachus' position is considerably weaker, at this point, than that of the top suitors.
Athena continues to support Telemachus. She inspired the assembly meeting, and she plans his secret departure for Pylos, recognizing that the suitors are becoming dangerous and might attempt to assassinate him. She disguises herself as Telemachus to gather 20 fine young men and procure a ship.
At other times, she appears as Mentor, a trusted counsel whose name inspired our current use of the word. Under the guise of Mentor, she accompanies the prince to Pylos. Pylos a seaport in the southwestern Peloponnesus in southern Greece, capital city of King Nestor. Previous Book 1. He walks outside to talk to her, and she tells Odysseus to reveal his true identity to Telemachus so that the two can plan their revenge against the suitors.
She makes Odysseus look like himself again. When he steps back inside, Telemachus is amazed at the transformation — he thinks Odysseus must be a god, since only gods can change so easily. I am your father, Odysseus tells him; Telemachus can't quite believe it at first, but Odysseus explains that Athena is responsible for his magical transformation. Athena helps Odysseus carry out his vengeance by helping him conceal and reveal his identity: she enhances his talent for disguise by intermittently changing his appearance.
We see again that she helps Odysseus, she augments his own skills, but she does not control him. And note how the capacity for transformation and disguise is seen as a godlike quality. Fate, the Gods, and Free Will. Odysseus asks Telemachus to describe the suitors so that they can plan an attack.
Telemachus doubts that only two men can defeat such a large group of suitors — over a hundred in total — but Odysseus reminds him that Athena and Zeus will stand by them as well. Odysseus tells him to go to the palace and mingle with the crowd of suitors. Eumaeus will bring Odysseus, once again disguised as a beggar, into town later. Odysseus further instructs Telemachus to keep his return secret — even from Laertes , Penelope , and Eumaeus. Athena has assured Odysseus that he can trust Telemachus, but he does not trust any other member of his family with the news of his return.
His suspicion is not unkind: in a world where people's lives and loyalties change constantly just ask Agamemnon , it would be foolish of Odysseus to expect his family to stay exactly as it was for the twenty years of his absence. Both Eumaeus and a herald from Pylos report to Penelope that Telemachus has come home. The suitors are dismayed to hear the news. They gather at the meeting grounds and complain that a god must have saved Telemachus's life.
Antinous proposes to murder him on home soil, but in secret, to avoid persecution. Amphinomus suggests that they should only kill the prince if the gods are in favor of the murder, and the suitors all agree to this more moderate plan. The suitors are both impious and foolish to try to harm a person who seems to have the protection of the gods. It is disrespectful and futile to pit one's will against the will of the gods. Eurymachus tries to calm Odysseus down, insisting that Antinous was the only bad apple among them, but Odysseus announces that he will spare none of them.
Eurymachus then charges Odysseus, but he is cut down by another arrow. Amphinomus is the next to fall, at the spear of Telemachus. Telemachus gets more shields and swords from the storeroom to arm Eumaeus and Philoetius, but he forgets to lock it on his way out.
Melanthius soon reaches the storeroom and gets out fresh arms for the suitors. A full battle now rages in the palace hall. Volleys of spears are exchanged, and Odysseus and his men kill several suitors while receiving only superficial wounds themselves.
Finally, Athena joins the battle, which then ends swiftly. The priest Leodes begs unsuccessfully for mercy. Odysseus has Eurycleia come out. She openly rejoices to see the suitors dead, but Odysseus checks her impropriety. She rounds up the disloyal servant women, who are first made to clear the corpses from the hall and wash the blood from the furniture; they are then sent outside and executed.
Odysseus tells Telemachus to cut them down with a sword, but Telemachus decides to hang them—a more disgraceful death.
Last of all, the traitor Melanthius is tortured and killed. After the bloodbath, Odysseus has the house fumigated. The dramatic scene in which Odysseus effortlessly strings the bow is justly famous. Since the bow gives Odysseus a weapon in hand, it also allows for a seamless transition to the fighting of Book Homer tells us that Odysseus received the bow during a diplomatic trip to Messene, long before any of his hardships began, and that it has been seldom used since then.
Through his mastery of the bow, Odysseus comes full circle, once again the king and most powerful man in Ithaca. Athena plays a less prominent role in the battle than earlier books suggest she might. Disguised as Mentor, she offers encouragement at a crucial moment, but her departure to the sidelines puts the focus squarely on Odysseus and his allies.
Of course, Athena would presumably intervene if the battle were to go awry, but her reserve until the very end allows the victory to be portrayed as the work of Odysseus and Telemachus.
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