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Signed (student author) -Signatures Removed Signed (faculty advisor) __ -~ i/v-* Thesis title The Ii Dbr/a oj' Oldy sseus I Date 1/1 /08 Os/I
Signature Removed Accepted for the Libraries __ Date accepted )'(1 -t2 by Paul A. Woodard David Porter, Advisor A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the Degree ofBachelor ofArts with Honors in Classics WILLIAMS COLLEGE Williamstown, Massachusetts May 19, 2008 Kat Professor Dekel for his help in forming the idea which sparked this thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, without whom none ofthis would have been at all possible. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: 'Anopia from Homer to the Sophists 4 Chapter Two: The 'Anopia ofthe Sea 13 Chapter Three: The nopOC; ofTExVll 27 Chapter Four: The nopOC; ofAOYOl 47 Chapter Five: The 'Anopia ofLife 66 Chapter Six: The nOpOl ofLife 85 Conclusion 103 Bibliography 106 Introduction The primary purpose ofthis thesis is to study the ways in which Odysseus responds to and delivers himselfand others from anopla in the Odyssey. The first chapter serves as an introduction to the concept ofanopla and to the ways in which the sophists offifth-century Athens were concerned with it; to this end, I examine Prodicus' /lueO~ about the young Heracles in anopla from Xenophon's Memorabilia and Protagoras' creation /lUeO~ in Plato's Protagoras. In the final portion ofthis chapter, I look at Achilles' encounter with anopla in the Iliad and prepare for a study ofOdysseus' struggles with anopla in the Odyssey. The second chapter examines Odysseus' story in the Odyssey as one continuous confrontation with anopla. As Homer explains at the very beginning ofhis epic, the Odyssey is the story ofOdysseus' struggle to obtain a V0010~; in the first twelve books he fights to reach his homeland, and in the second twelve he ensures that his house remains his home by ridding it ofthe suitors. The anopla arises here from the many obstacles which obstruct Odysseus' V0010~, the greatest one being the sea itself. In the second half ofthis chapter, I look at the 1ExVll required for confronting the sea, the great body of anopla, first by examining the skilled Phaeacians and the unskilled Cyclopes' relationships with the sea. In the final portion ofthis chapter, I study Odysseus' use of TEXVll to cross the sea in his departure from Calypso's island. The third chapter studies the ways in which Odysseus uses the craft ofhis hands to deliver himselfand his companions from anopla. One ofthe greatest examples ofthis is Odysseus' encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus; Odysseus is able to overcome the 1 much stronger Polyphemus by relying primarily on his quick wit and 'TE:XVll. Once Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca he faces a similarly demanding task in ridding his house ofthe suitors; here again he relies on his superior 'TE:xVll to compensate for the suitors' far greater numbers. Throughout this chapter I also demonstrate that Odysseus' reliance upon 'TE:XVll has the positive effect ofrestoring him and his companions to a human state in the bestial world they traverse. The fourth chapter is a similar study ofthe ways in which Odysseus uses oral persuasion to resolve his anopia. While Odysseus relies mainly on 'TE:XVll to escape the Cyclops' cave, it is actually his skill with words which enables his plan to succeed. "When dealing with friendlier, less bestial characters, Odysseus often relies solely on persuasion-itself, ofcourse, a'TE:xvll as the sophists emphasized-to deliver himself from anopia; in his encounters with Circe and Nausicaa, the Ithacan king uses flattery and his ability to evoke pity to reach his desired end with minimal deception. In contrast, in dealing with the suitors Odysseus turns mainly to deception to give himselfenough time to prepare his final assault against his unwelcome guests. Unlike his use of'TE:XVll in the Cyclops episode, which reinforces his human state, this reliance upon deception in these other instances risks robbing Odysseus ofhis unique human identity, which he accordingly feels the need to reassert. In the fifth chapter I examine a very different kind ofanopia which Odysseus faces. In his encounters with Circe, Calypso, and Nausicaa Odysseus is three times offered an alternative to fighting for his VO()'TOt;, but in each ofthese episodes he eventually chooses to continue on his journey homeward. In this chapter I examine the anopia in which Odysseus finds himself in having to choose between these paths. 2 Although Circe, Calypso, and Nausicaa present three essentially equivalent offers, Odysseus shows increasingly less interest over the course ofhis journey. In examining the gods' encounters with anopia, which do not bear the serious consequences that mortals' encounters with anopia do, I conclude that in choosing to live in the world of mortals Odysseus subjects himselfto unending anopia, which is in part inescapable. In the final portion ofthe fifth chapter, I argue that the Ithacan's great concern with maintaining a human identity suggests that ifa divine life robs him ofthis, it is not a worthy life. In the final chapter ofthe thesis, I examine the aspect ofmorality in Odysseus', as well as the sophists', encounters with anopia. In the Odyssey, the much-traveled man's actions are guided by a strong moral compass; in choosing to embrace mortal life, Odysseus develops a sensitivity to the universal condition ofmortality, which he does not forget even in attempting to escape anopia. In the rest ofthe chapter I examine the ways in which Sophocles plays with the role ofmorality in Odysseus' encounters with anopia as a reflection ofthe sophists ofhis day. In the earlier-written Ajax, a somewhat less glorious Odysseus than the one in the Odyssey, who is nevertheless guided by the same strong moral compass, delivers the Greeks from anopia by bringing about justice in the burial ofAjax. On the other hand, in the later-written Philoctetes, an Odysseus who appears just as clever as in the Odyssey but who is bereft ofa strong sense ofmorality, fails to deliver the Greeks from anopia in not obtaining the bow ofHeracles. Sophocles thus reveals that, as in the Odyssey, Odysseus' attempts to deliver himselffrom anopia through the use ofhis craft and rhetoric are only successful so long as they are guided by a compassion for his fellow mortals. 3 Chapter One: ·Anopia from Homer to the Sophists No single English word is capable ofconveying the full meaning ofthe Greek word anopia. 'Perplexity' and 'confusion' may both be reasonable translations, but these merely graze the surface; anopia is truly the state ofbeing at a loss, the condition ofbeing offany guiding path. Although we may not have a suitably equivalent word for anopia today, this condition is undoubtedly still present in our own culture, for it is a state which transcends all times and peoples. The music ofLili Boulanger,l the words of Gertrude Stein,2 the difficulties in resolving the wars in Vietnam and the Middle East, the lyrics ofcountry singer Kenny Chesney,3 and the themes ofthe animated Disney film Cars4 are all reminders that anopia remains very much alive today. While today's bookstores fill their shelves with popular epiphanic tales in which confused men and women discover a meaningful path in life, such stories are not the invention ofthe modem age; they have undoubtedly existed since the birth ofmankind. In his Memorabilia, Xenophon preserves the sophist Prodicus' tale ofthe young Herac1es' transition through just such a period ofanopia: 1 The very chords ofthe early twentieth-century composer Lili Boulanger's "Psaume 130," which pour out pure emotion, are the living testament to the absolute confusion she felt as she lay dying ofconsumption. 2 In conversation with Ernest Hemingway, the writer Gertrude Stein is credited with saying, "You are all a lost generation," in reference to post-World War I society, which was forever changed by the great sense of loss in the aftermath ofthe war. 3 In one ofhis hit songs from "The Road and the Radio," an album about growing up and finding meaning in life, Kenny Chesney expresses the confusion ofa young man uncertain as to how he should live his life: Sun comes up and sun sinks down, And I seen 'em both in this tourist town, Up for days in a rage, Just trying to search my soul For all the answers and the reasons why I'm at this crossroads in my life And I really don't know which way to go. 4 In Cars, the main character only truly finds himselfby becoming completely lost in the American Southwest. 4 (For he says that Heracles, when he was moving from childhood into manhood, in which young men now becoming independent show whether they will tum to the path ofvirtue in life or to that ofvice, going out to a place ofsolitude sat down, being at a loss as to which ofthe paths he should turn.)5 Perhaps what is most captivating about this passage is that Prodicus captures the mighty Heracles in the moment when he is passing through the threshold between the world of an innocent child and that of a grown man. We, like the ancient Greeks, know quite well what sort ofman Heracles becomes-nothing less than the greatest ofthe Greek warriors, but for this single moment he is caught in the sticky web ofanoPla, struggling to decide what to do with his life. To encourage the confused adolescent in his struggles, Virtue and Vice enter upon the scene, embodied as two charming women, one clothed in simple modesty, the other adorned in all excess. Each eager to have the young Heracles join her own party, Virtue and Vice present the adolescent with two very different nopol to give him an escape from this anoPla, each developing finely crafted arguments to win over the boy. Upon catching sight ofthe young hero, Vice quickens her pace, determined to be the first one to seduce him: oPW crE, cD 'HpaKA.El<;, anOPODV'Ta nOlav oSov £n1 'TOV Slov wanll. £av ouv £/lE (I see you, 0 Heracles, being at a loss as to what sort ofpath in life you should tum. So ifyou make me dear, [to] the sweetest and easiest path I will lead you.) 5 All ofthe translations included in this thesis are my own. 5 Virtue counters the promises ofVice's quick and easy path with her own substantial guarantees to true happiness: Kat EyeD ~KW npo<; (JE, cD 'HpcXXA.£l<;, £i8ula '"Cou<; y£vv~(Jav'"Ca<; (J£ Kat '"C~V (I, also, have come to you, 0 Herac1es, having known those who begot you and having observed well your nature in childhood, from which things I hope, ifyou should tum to my path, you would become a very good worker ofbeautiful and holy things.) After much struggling between the two ladies, Virtue succeeds in emerging victorious, as Herac1es chooses to follow her nopo<; out ofhis anopia, taking his first steps towards becoming the great warrior whom we recognize today. In many ways this contest between Virtue and Vice exemplifies the work and beliefs ofthe sophists.6 When these great thinkers began to arrive in Athens in the middle ofthe fifth century, they presented themselves as instructors, offering to teach the young men ofGreece to speak effectively. The concept oftwo opposing paths is at the core of sophistic thought, as Protagoras, whom many considered the father of sophism, is reported to have said: npw'w<; E aV'TlK£l/lEVOU<; aA.A.~A.Ol<; (Protagoras, DK 6a). ([Protagoras] first said that there are two arguments concerning every matter lying opposite each other.) Thus, the sophist's goal is to be able to fashion the winning argument regardless ofthe subject or difficulty, or in the words ofProtagoras, 'TOV T)'T'Tw ...A.oyov Kp£l'T'TW nOl£lv (Protagoras, DK 6b) (to make the weaker argument the stronger one). In the /l'080<; ofProdicus, the two A.OyOl are the speeches ofVirtue and Vice, each advocating her own nopo<;, in the moral battle between 6 For more on the sophists, see Guthrie 1969. 6 good and evil for Heracles' life. The nopo~ ofVice is certainly the easier path, and thus in many ways, her argument should be the stronger one; thus, it is Virtue's task to transform her weaker argument into a winning one. While the sophists were certainly concerned with such moral anopia, their primary interest lay in confronting the practical anopia ofhuman life as they instructed men to become good speakers and good leaders in both the private realm ofthe house and in the public space ofthe state. In the Protagoras, the title character, as portrayed by Plato, depicts the practical anopia oflife in a creation ,..t'u80~. After Zeus charges Prometheus and Epimetheus with the duty ofpopulating the earth with all sorts of animals, Epimetheus convinces his brother to allow him to take charge ofthe task; however, the foolish Titan fails to ensure that every creature can provide for itself: (Inasmuch as Epimetheus was not at all wise, he failed to see that he had used up the abilities; indeed the race ofhumans was still remaining unequipped by him, and he was at a loss as to what to do. And Prometheus came to him in his perplexity in order to examine the distribution, and he sawall the other animals having all things suitably, but man naked and unshod and without bedding and unarmed. And already the allotted day was present, on which it was also necessary for man to go out from the earth into the light.) There is a total sense ofanopia in this scene. First, Epimetheus and Prometheus are noted as being in complete anopia as to how to amend this bungle. Furthermore, although the word anopia does not appear in Protagoras' description ofmankind, it is clearly at a loss itself, as helpless as can be, without the least bit of a path by which it 7 may make its way in the world. This sense ofanopia is only magnified by the fact that the men are still held within the dark realms ofthe earth, deprived ofthe light ofday. With Epimetheus having already revealed his lack ofcleverness in his failure to create acceptable animals, it is left to Prometheus to deliver himself, his brother, and mankind from anopia: anoPi~ ouv O"XO~EVOC; 0 npO~llSEVC;, ~V'nva O"ClycllPiav 10 aVSpcDnC.t? EVPOl, KA£n1Et 'H (So, Prometheus, being held in perplexity as to what deliverance he might find for man, stole from Hephaestus and Athena the skill ofcraftsmanship with fire ...and thus indeed gave it to man.) Completely at a loss as to how to deal with this obstacle, he turns to his intellect, his wit, and all ofhis craft to create for himselfand others a nopoc; out ofthis anopia. To say that Prometheus is not faced with a moral, philosophical anopia is not to say that moral issues are not brought into play in Prometheus' creation of a nopoc;. The crafty Titan succeeds in finding a solution to his brother's blunder, but it is a solution that involves theft, and theft from the gods moreover. In this practical world, it is apparent that Prometheus will do all that is necessary to create a road out ofthe nowhere of anopia, regardless ofwhere this road will lead, and in fact, it leads to further trouble for ~E1~ASEV (322AI-A2). (But a charge oftheft followed Prometheus afterwards on account ofEpimetheus, as is said.) In a story which focuses on mankind's acquisition of the knowledge of crafts and politics, Plato goes out ofhis way to remind the reader ofthe repercussions ofPrometheus' actions-centuries oftorture at the talons and beaks ofthe 8 eagles' ofZeus. Furthermore, despite the humans' newly learned skills, the actions of Prometheus lead to further sorrow and, more importantly, greater anopia for them: ou'reD 8~ nap£crK£uacr~H~:VOt Ka1:' apxa~ av8pu)n;ot O?KOUV crnopa811v, n6A,£t~ 8£ OUK ~crav' a7t (Having indeed thus been prepared in their early stages, men lived scattered, and there were no cities; thus they were killed by wild beasts because they were in every respect weaker than them... Indeed, they sought to gather together and to save themselves by building cities, but when they were gathered, they treated each other unjustly, seeing that they did not have political skill, so that scattering again they were destroyed utterly.) Only through the divine intervention ofZeus and his gift ofpolitical wisdom are men finally able to coexist together peacefully and have a complete path in life. The consequences ofPrometheus' morally wrong approach to escaping anopia are in many ways a reflection ofthe sophists' actions in fifth-century Athens. As long as the sophists chose the morally good n6po~ to deal with the practical anopia ofhuman life, Athens benefited from the effective leadership skills learned from the sophists; however, when the students ofthese brilliant teachers ignored matters ofmorality, using their gifts merely to get ahead, regardless ofthe cost, the results were disastrous.? While the specific topic ofanopia may not have received such attention until the sophists came to Athens in the fifth century, the concept ofanopia certainly predates them. Prodicus' image ofthe mighty Heracles caught momentarily in a state ofloss is in many ways reminiscent ofthe depiction ofanother great Achaean warrior, Achilles, brooding by himself, far from battle, for much ofthe Iliad: 7 As Wallace (1998: 222) asserts: "Before 430, the sophists were a positive force for Athens' democracy. Afterward, they helped to destroy it." 9 ·.. aU'TUp 'AXtA-AEuC; 8aKpucrac; E'TapWV a (...But Achilles, in tears, at once sat far from his companions, having withdrawn to the shore ofthe grey sea, looking at the boundless sea.) In its physical orientation, this scene is quite similar to the one with Heracles, as we find Achilles too withdrawn from society, distressed by the loss ofhis beloved Briseis. Derailed from any normal track, Achilles sits, an outcast, merely watching life progress from a distance: ,\ !: I \, , I (But he raged sitting by the swift ships, the godlike son ofPeleus, swift-footed Achilles. Neither then would he go to the meeting place that brings men honor, nor even to war, but he kept wasting away in his dear heart, remaining there, and kept longing for the battle cry and war.) Like that ofProdicus' Heracles, Achilles' self-imposed isolation marks the necessity for the hero to search his troubled heart for how he should continue his life; in Book IX, Achilles most succinctly presents the two nopot between which he must choose: ~n'Ty\p yap 'TE ~E (For my mother, the silver-footed goddess Thetis, tells me that two fates bear me toward the fulfillment ofdeath. Ifremaining here I fight about the city ofthe Trojans, a return home for me is destroyed, but my glory will be everlasting, 10 but ifI arrive at home, at my dear fatherland, noble glory for me is destroyed, but my life will be long, nor will the end ofdeath come upon me swiftly.) Taken together, these passages paint a picture ofAchilles in deep anopia ofthe very sort which Prodicus' Heracles faces. While the word anopia itselfis not present in these scenes, the sensation ofutterly heart-wrenching uncertainty and loss surely is; just as anopia is very much present today despite our lack ofan equivalent English word, so Homer captures an Achilles very much in anOPla long before the sophists began to use the word in their teaching. The two nopol between which Achilles must choose do not directly align themselves with the morally right and wrong paths ofProdicus' parable; however, this anopia with which the best ofthe Achaeans is beset, like that ofHeracles, is certainly of a moral variety. Just like Heracles, Achilles must choose between two paths which lead to very different lives, paths which will determine his very future. Achilles is so overcome by this anopia, however, that he is essentially incapable ofcommitting himself to either path, despite on the one hand the valiant efforts of Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax to steer him back to Troy and on the other the desires within Thetis' heart ofhearts that her dear son turn away from this short-lived prospect. In the end, the same stubbornness, the same inability to adapt which prevents Achilles from conquering his anOPla for much ofthe Iliad robs him ofthe nopo~ leading him home to a long life, and Achilles ends up having to choose the nopo~ ofdeath and KA,EO~. In many ways Homer's Odysseus chooses the very path in the Odyssey that Achilles does not in the Iliad. Rather than live forever in some divine paradise, Odysseus chooses to live out a mortal life, to fight for a vO(J"[o~. Even though this choice subjects 11 him to the inescapable anopia ofhuman life, Odysseus understands the blessings of having a unique human identity, even in the midst of all the woes oflife. Unlike Achilles, Odysseus has the flexibility to survive in the human world, to confront and escape the practical anopia which stands between him and his home; through the craft of his hands, the inventiveness ofhis mind, and the persuasive speech ofhis mouth, Odysseus is able to forge his desired nopOl. For these reasons above all else-his persuasive tongue, his creative mind, his skillful hands, his ability to navigate the anopia ofthe mortal world, and his choice to do so-Odysseus is in many ways the very model ofthe sophists' beliefs.s 8 For the Athenians' views ofOdysseus during the age ofsophism, see Stanford 1963: 90-117. 12 Chapter Two: The'Anopia of the Sea As Homer indicates in the opening lines ofthe poem, Odysseus' primary concern in the Odyssey is to obtain a V00'W~ for himself and his companions: apVUllEVO~ ~v 'TE \lfUX~V Kat V00'TOV haipwv (1.5). (Winning his life and the return home ofhis companions.) While the final step ofthis V00'TO~, which occupies essentially the entire second halfofthe Odyssey, is for the wandering hero to regain control ofhis island home, the collection ofadventures which Odysseus faces in Books V through XII constitute the main process involved in this V00'TO~. Though these many individual episodes can be taken as separate instances of Odysseus' anopia, they are all part ofthe anopia of obtaining a V00'TO~, of creating a nopo~ through the sea back to Ithaca. Before Homer grants us our first look at the mighty Odysseus, we know from Menelaus' encounters with Prometheus, the old man ofthe sea, that it is the sea which holds back the Ithacan king: El~ 8' En nou ~wo~ Ka'TEpUKE'TCXl EUPfi nOV'TCV (IV.498). (But one sti11living is held back ,somewhere by the broad sea.) When the narrative finally turns to Odysseus, our first picture ofhim is a very striking one, as the lone sojourner mourns his lost homeland, held against his will on Ogygia, the island ofthe nymph Calypso: ou8' up' '08u00na llEyaA-T)'Topa Ev80v E'TE'TllEV, aA-A-' 0 y' En' aK'Tn~ KA-alE Ka8T)llEVO~, Ev8a napo~ nEp, 8aKpU01 Kat 0'TOVaX~01 Kat UA-YE01 8UllOV EPEx8wv. (V.81-83) (He did not find great-hearted Odysseus within, but he wept, sitting upon the beach, there even as before, shattering his heart with tears and groans and griefs.) 13 The depiction of Odysseus sitting alone on the shores ofthe grey sea, clearly in distress, is reminiscent ofthe similar images ofthe mighty Achilles in the Iliad. As discussed in the previous chapter, Achilles clearly sits in anOPla, uncertain as to what path he should follow-the one leading to battle, short life, and honor, the other to home, longevity, and peace. Captured in such a similar pose, Odysseus, separated from all his comrades, surely is in his own anOPla, though it is ofa very different variety than Achilles'. The clever father ofthe Trojan horse does not face some moral debate regarding what sort of life he should lead, but rather a practical obstacle which prevents him from moving along his chosen path: ...Ka"Cl::l~E'W of: "fA., UKUC; al-mv / vO return home, since no longer did the nymph please him.) At this point, the lone sojourner knows what he wants, his vO finding a way to obtain it. Unlike almost every other episode in which Odysseus is caught in anOPla, however, here he is incapable offinding his nopoc;; this anOPla ofthe sea proves to be the only one so consuming in the Odyssey that Odysseus is actually trapped for a prolonged extent oftime, unable to find the needed nopoc;. The word anOPla and its corresponding adjectival form anopoc;, meaning literally 'pathless,' or more figuratively 'at a loss,' are derived from the noun nopoc;. Over time, nopoc; has generally come to mean 'path' or 'passageway,' but in its early usage it refers to a means ofpassing over or through water, such as a ford across a river or a path through the sea. While anopoc; and anOPla are not found anywhere in the Iliad or the Odyssey, the word nopoc; actually does appear five times in the poet's two great epics, four times in the Iliad and once in the Odyssey. Three ofthe four occurrences ofnopoc; in 14 the Iliad are repetitions ofthe same two line segment:9 aA),: O'TE (5T) nopov tSOV (But when indeed they came to the ford ofthe fair-flowing river, / the whirling Xanthus, which immortal Zeus begot.) Geographically the Xanthus is key to the action ofthe Iliad because it is the river which separates the Greeks' camp from the city ofthe Trojans, and so this nopo<; across the Xanthus is the very passageway which connects one base of fighters to the other. While the first two ofthe three occurrences ofthese lines are during battle scenes, Homer introduces the third in Book XXIV as the means by which Priam is able to flee the Achaean camp with the body ofhis beloved son Hector. Thus, the etymology ofanopia leads naturally to the embodiment ofthe concept as a body ofwater, such as the sea. While the sophists primarily thought ofanopia as a human state, the word's original meaning lends itselfto a more geographical or metaphorical interpretation as a watery, pathless region, namely a sea or ocean. The single occurrence ofthe word nopo<; in the Odyssey lies in Book XII as Odysseus speaks to his avid Phaeacian audience ofthe nopo'\.)<; eXAO<; (paths ofthe sea): ESEPEEiv(J)v (XII.258-259). (That indeed was the most pitiable thing ofall that I saw with my eyes, / as many as were the things I suffered, traversing the paths ofthe sea.) In this desolate space ofanopia, Odysseus plays the role ofthe maritime trailblazer, cutting his own paths through this pathless domain. While nopo<; only appears once in this context, nEpa(J), one ofits corresponding verbal forms, and its compound EKnEpa(J) occur over a 9 The fourth occurrence ofnopos in the Iliad is at 11.592, during the great catalog. 10 The other two occurrences ofthese lines are at XXI.l-2 and XX1V.692-693 15 dozen times in the Odyssey alone. 11 In eleven cases, n£paw and EKn£paw are used to express a crossing ofthe sea, thus directly relating to the above usage of nopo~. While perhaps the simplest translation ofnEpaw in this situation is 'to pass over' or 'to cross,' neither ofthese choices captures the full connotation which n£paw's connection with nopo~ implies; n£paw seems to mean in its fullest sense 'to create a nopo~.' Such treatment ofn£paw, as well as its compound, captures the concept ofmaking a pathway out ofanopia, or in the physical sense, making a pathway in a pathless space such as the sea. In Protagoras' tale ofthe gift offire and 't£XV'll to mankind, Epimetheus is incapable ofdelivering himself, or mankind, from anopia; it is necessary for Prometheus to employ all ofhis cunning and skillful craftiness to create a nopo~. The sophists of fifth-century Athens made their living offthe very principle that not all men have 't£XV'll but that they can be taught it. While the sophists did not necessarily think ofthe sea as a physical representation ofanopia, to face the sea certainly requires the very 't£XV'll with which they dealt with anopia, for as Alcinous says to Odysseus, there is nothing more confounding to a man than the sea: ou yap EyeD y£ 'ti <\>'ll~l KaKeD't£poV a'A..'A..o ea'A..a(}(J'll~ / av8pa y£ 0UYX£Ual, £1 Kat ~a'A..a Kap'tEpo~ El'll (VIII.138-139). (For I do not think that there is anything at all worse than the sea / for confounding a man, even if he were very mighty.) When Nausicaa tells Odysseus about the Phaeacians, she highlights above all else their love ofthe sea and their skill at crossing it: ou yap 11 The other corresponding verbal form ofnopoc;, nEipw, also occurs a number oftimes in Homer's epics; however, its meaning is closer to 'pass through' or 'pierce,' and thus, the verb seems to be less connected to anopia. 16 ~(JtV ayaA,A,0ll£VOl nOA,l~V n£pOCD(Jt eaA,aaaav. (VI.270-272) (For neither the bow nor the quiver is a concern to the Phaeacians, but the masts and the oars ofthe ships and the fair ships, in which, exulting, they cross the grey sea.) In contrasting the bow and quiver with the masts and oars of a ship, Homer links the choice tools ofOdysseus and the Phaeacians, respectively. Odysseus' most memorable demonstration ofhis 1:£XVl1 with the bow comes in Book XXII when he uses it to pour destruction down upon the suitors, thus completing his voa1:o<; and delivering himself from the final anopia in the closing books ofthe Odyssey.12 Just as Ithaca's king is thus able to escape anopia by the skill ofhis bow, so the Phaeacians are able to overcome the anopia ofthe sea, relying upon their mastery ofmasts and steering oars. Nausicaa's description ofthe Phaeacians' love ofsailing comes at a very pivotal moment in the plot ofthe Odyssey. At the beginning ofBook VI, Odysseus finds himself in anopia, stranded in an unknown land without clothes or protection, fearful ofthe beasts and men which lie around him. 13 A mere ten lines before the above passage, the kind Nausicaa, however, presents the answer to the lost sojourner's confusion, volunteering to be a guide, a nopo<; herself, to the city ofthe Phaeacians and out ofthe anopia in which he is entangled. In juxtaposing the image ofNausicaa as Odysseus' guide into the city with that ofthe Phaeacians as master sailors, Homer links these two concepts; joined thus, Nausicaa's readiness to lead Odysseus out ofthe anopia ofthe wild, back to civilization foreshadows Alcinous' willingness to provide Odysseus with men to transport him safely across the deep sea, back to his home island ofIthaca. Just as Nausicaa is able to provide a nopo<; for Odysseus in Book VI, the Phaeacian sailors are 12 This will be examined further in Chapter 3. 13 This will be examined further in Chapter 4. 17 able to cut a nopoc; across the sea and deliver him from the prolonged anopia ofthe first halfofthe Odyssey, the uncertainty ofhow to secure a passage home. In stark contrast to the Phaeacians, so skilled in their command ofships, stand the Cyclopes whom Odysseus visits soon after his escape from Troy and war; Homer depicts these creatures as being purely bestial, bereft not only ofthe mastery of sailing but of '. 1 14 'TEXVl1 III genera : ou yap K uKAwnE0 (For neither the Cyclopes had red-prowed ships, nor were there men among them, makers ofships, who would construct ships with good rowing benches, which would accomplish all things, coming to cities ofmen, just as often men, going to others, cross the sea in ships, [craftsmen] who would also make the island well built for them.) Like Epimetheus ofProtagoras' /-luSOC;, the Cyclopes are incapable offinding a nopoc; to lead them out oftheir anopia; their lack oftransportation across the great sea holds them captive on their lone island. IS This inability does not come from a lack ofresources, but rather a lack of skill on their part. Without 'TfxVl1, the Cyclopes are incapable offacing the anopia ofthe sea or creating a nopoc; through it. The most striking depiction ofthe Cyclopes' anopia comes as Odysseus sends out challenges to the enraged Polyphemus from his retreating ship. As the Ithacan king, skillful as he is, cuts a path through the 14 Before the people ofAlcinous move to Phaeacia, they are oppressed by the brutish Cyclopes near whom they live. The ultimate testament to the Phaeacian's superior 'H~XVTJ is their ability to escape this anopia by fleeing over the sea to a new land. For a greater comparison ofthe Cyclopes and Phaeacians, see Clay 1983: 125-132. 15 The suitors are also plagued by a lack ofability to master the sea. While they may be able to launch and man a ship, their inability to kill Telemachus in the ambush at sea reflects their inability to master the anopia ofthe sea. 18 water in his proud ship, Polyphemus can do no more than stand by the side ofthe sea and hurl stones and curses at the gloating trickster. He is physically restrained by this body of anOPla, unable to devise a path to the escaping Ithacans. As Polyphemus reveals in a conversation with the captive Odysseus, the Cylopes' inability to cross the sea is only one aspect oftheir general lack of'tExvTj. Mustering up as much craftiness as possible, the brutish Cyclops questions Odysseus on the location of his ship before making a meal ofhis comrades: aAAa ~Ol £1 ("But tell me where you moored your well-made ship, going your way, whether somewhere in a remote area or even nearby, so that I may know." Thus he spoke, testing me, but he did not slip this by me, knowing many things. But I addressed him with crafty words in reply: "Poseidon, the lord ofearthquakes, broke my ship into pieces, throwing it upon the rocks at the boundaries ofyour land, having dashed it against a cape, and the wind carried it from the sea. But I with these men escaped sheer destruction.") Despite the clumsy Polyphemus' best attempts to deceive Odysseus into revealing the location ofhis ships and thus bring the Cyclopes one step closer to finding a nopo~ leading either to more humans to be eaten or to ships which will free them from their insular prison, the Ithacan is not so easily ensnared. The master ofdeception cloaks his ships with the lies ofhis tale and thus denies his barbarous captor a means ofescaping his anOpla. In choosing to tell Polyphemus that his ship has been destroyed, smashed to 19 pieces upon the rocks, Odysseus elegantly crushes the Cyclops' hope ofa nopoc; to escape his island imprisonment, just as he crushes his own ship in this fabrication. 16 To return to Book V, our first look at Odysseus' struggle with the anopla ofthe sea, the Ithacan king's imprisonment results in part from his inability as a mortal man to contend with the will ofa goddess, such as Calypso; however, such an important scene requires further investigation. As Athena calls to her mighty father's attention, it is Odysseus' lack ofa ship, the necessary tool for carving a path away from the island, which enchains him to Ogygia and prevents his escape from anopla: a"A"A' 0 IJ.EV EV V~00! Kfl'Tal Kpa'tEp' a"AYfa na0XWV VUIl<\>llC; EV IlfYaPOl0l Ka"AD\jfOUC;, 11 IIIv avaYKlJ '{0xn· 0 0' ou ouva'tat llv na'tploa yalav lXE0Sat· , I r I ,...... , I \ ~ "...., OD yap Ol napa VllfC; fnllPf'tllol Kat f'tatpol, 01 KEV IIIv nEllnolfv En' fupEa vcD'ta Sa"Aa0011C;. (V.13-17) (But he lies on an island suffering overpowering woes in the halls ofthe nymph Calypso, who by force holds him back. And he is not able to go to his homeland, for there are no ships fitted with oars and no companions who would send him out upon the wide back ofthe sea.) Just like Polyphemus and his fellow Cyclopes, Odysseus is incapable of creating a nopoc; through the sea; however, unlike them, the Ithacan is restricted primarily by a lack of tools and the powerful will ofthe gods. Once Calypso gives her captive her blessing to depart, she presents him with an axe, the tool with which he may fashion a seaworthy vessel: a"AA.' aYf ooupa'ta llaKPU 'tallC~)V apllos£O xa"AKcD fupflav 0XfOlllV· a'tup 'lKpla nn~al En' au'tnc; U\jfOU, cDc; 0f <\>EPlJ0lV En' nfponoEa nov'tov. (V.162-164) 16 Furthermore, as Dougherty 2001 (123) notes, Homer directly associates Polyphemus' lack ohExVTj in confronting the sea with Odysseus' ability to blind him: "The Cyclopes' lack ofmaritime experience is underscored by the fact that it is the technology ofshipbuilding that overcomes Polyphemus. Polyphemus' walking stick, a stick that is as big as the mast ofa twenty-oared cargo ship, becomes the instrument ofhis blinding." 20 (But come, having cut long planks with the bronze, construct a wide raft, and fix a platform high up upon it, so that it may carry you upon the misty sea.) Through this gift Calypso indicates the first necessary step in confronting the anopia of the sea, namely having the "CExVll to construct a vessel. Once armed with adequate tools, Odysseus demonstrates this very "C£XVll: 17 O (Wide as some man marks out the hull of a wide freight ship, knowing well the art ofthe carpenter, so wide Odysseus made his wide raft.) For the first time in the Odyssey, Homer likens the protagonist to a crafty carpenter; by comparing the Ithacan to such a skilled workman, the poet emphasizes Odysseus' ability to create a vessel sturdy enough to survive the might ofthe raging sea. While Homer lists many ofthe important features ofthe raft which Odysseus skillfully fashions, he highlights two ofthese elements in particular-the mast and the steenng. oar: 18 EV 8' l 17 In many ways Homer's detailed description ofthe construction ofthis raft is mirrored in Book XXIII by Odysseus' account ofcrafting his and Penelope's bed and private chamber. For more on the construction oftheir bed, see Dougherty 2001: 177-183 and Zeitlin 1995. 18 Similar emphasis is placed on the mast and the steering oar as the Phaeacians ready the ship on which they will bear Odysseus back to Ithaca: £Y 8' 1 21 (And in it he made a mast and a yard-ann fitted to it, And he made for it a steering oar so that he might steer it... And meanwhile, Calypso, divine among goddesses, brought cloths To make sails, and he fashioned these well too.) The mast with its attached sail enables Odysseus to capture and use to his advantage the power ofthe winds. Even more importantly, the steering device, when combined with the sail, allows Odysseus to choose his nopoe;, rather than let it choose him. This steering oar is Odysseus' greatest and most vital tool in the watery world which he faces, and just as with his great 'tEXVll the castaway is able to craft such a fine oar, he similarly demonstrates his control ofthis tool in skillfully guiding his raft through the sea, the second step in confronting this anopia. On the wild voyage which brings him to Calypso's island, Odysseus is carried about the sea at the mercy ofthe waves beneath him and the winds above him, as Hennes recounts in Book V: 'tOY 8' apa 8£up' aV£l.tOe; 't£ YllS00UVOe; 8' oUPo.> nE'ta0' l0'tia 810e; '08U00£Ue;. a1J't(xp 6 n1l8aA io.> tSuvno 't£XVllEV'tWe; llll£voe;·... (V.269-271) (And, joyful, godly Odysseus spread his sails to the favorable wind. And he steered it skillfully with the steering oar, sitting there....) The primary difference between these two journeys is the presence ofthe mighty steering oar in the latter one; having this single tool in his capable hands grants Odysseus the power to create his desired path in this space ofanopia. The maiden voyage of Odysseus' skillfully-built raft, however, is not a fortunate one, as Poseidon still rages on about the disgraces dealt to his one-eyed son by the much- 22 traveled man. Seeking to cause the sojourner as much griefas possible, the sea god naturally seeks to destroy Odysseus' raft, his nopo<;, without which he is left in anopia: w<; apa IIIv Elnovr' EAa0EV IlEya KUlla Ka'!' aKPTl<; OElVOV £n£00UIlEVoV, nEpt Of 0XEOiTlv £AEA1~E. '!~AE 0' ano 0XE01Tl<; a-lno<; n£0E, nTlOaAlOV Of £K XElpmv npOETlKE' IlE00V OE 01 10'!ov Ea~E OEl v~ Il10YOIlEVWV aVEWDv £AOou0a OUEAAa, '!TlAOU Of 0nEtpov Kat £niKplOV Elln£0E nov'!CJ;l. '!OV 0' ap' uno~puxa O~KE nOADV xpOVOV, auo' £OUVa00Tl a\\jfa llaA' aV0XEO£ElV IlEyaAou uno KUlla1O<; OPIl~<;' E1lla'!a yap p' £~apUVE, '!a 01 nopE Ota KaAu\jfcD. (V.313-321) (A great wave struck him, as he was speaking thus, with full force, dashing against him terribly, and shook around the raft, and he himselffell far from the raft and let the steering oar fall from his hands. And the terrible storm ofthe winds brought together in confusion, coming at it, broke the middle ofhis mast, and the sail and yard-arm fell far away into the sea. And it put him underwater for much time; and he was not able to raise himselfup from under the rush ofthe wave at once, for the clothes which divine Calypso gave him weighed him down.) Though the purpose ofPoseidon's strike is to demolish the raft as a whole, Homer notes the two most important parts ofthe raft which he harms, once again, the mast and the steering oar. First, Odysseus is so jarred by the onslaught ofthe powerful waves that he loses his hold on the oar, and it is claimed by the stormy sea. Secondly, Poseidon directly strikes the mast with the force ofthe winds, snapping it in two, and thus making it useless. Odysseus himselfis knocked offthe decimated raft; however, he does not forget his vessel, his physical nopo<; through the anopia ofthe sea, in this time oftrial: O\jff Of on p' aVEou, 0'!olla'!0<; 0' £~En'!u0Ev aAlll1V nlKPnV, 11 01 nOAA~ ano Kpa'!o<; Kdapu1;;Ev. aAA' ouo' w<; 0XEOiTl<; £ndnOE'!O, '!EtpOIlEVO<; nEp, aAAa IlEOOPIlTlOEt<; EVt KUlla0lv EAAa~£'!' au'!~<;, £V IlE001J Of KaOt1;;E '!EAO<; Oava'!ou aAEEivwv. '!~v 0' £ (But at last he surfaced, and he from his mouth he spit the bitter 23 salt water, which in abundance flew from his head. But he did not forget his raft thus, despite being worn out, but having darted out towards it among the waves he grasped it and sat down in the middle ofit, evading the end ofdeath. And a great wave carried it here and there according to its current.) Without his steering oar and mast, however, Odysseus once more finds himself at the mercy ofthe winds and the waves. Lacking these important tools, he is unable to make his own nopo<; through the sea, being thrown about once more according to its fierce will. Despite his current inability to control his path through the sea, Odysseus nonetheless refuses to leave behind the remnants ofhis once proud raft, even after being advised to do so by the sea nymph Ino: oepp' av IlEV KEV OOUPa1;' EV apllovilJ01v apnPlJ, 'Coepp' au'wu IlEVEW Kal 'CAn00llal aAYEa na0XWV' au'Cap En~v on Ilot 0XEoiT\V Ola KUlla nVa~lJ, Vn~oll', EnEl ou IlEV n napa npovo1l0al allElVov. (V.361-364) (As long as the planks stay in position among the cords, so long I will remain here and endure the woes I am suffering, but when a wave breaks up my raft I will swim, since there will be nothing better at hand to devise.) Even though he is at the mercy ofthe mighty sea, Odysseus knows that his best chance of surviving such an onslaught in this realm ofanopia is to remain on his devastated raft, for although the craft cannot be controlled, it still represents more ofa nopo<; than anything else in this foreign space. When Poseidon finally destroys the last splinters of the raft once and for all, Odysseus is now completely alone and helpless in the immense sea, literally up to his neck in anopia. As Poseidon leaves Odysseus to fend for himself, he bids him to wander the sea: oV'Cw vuv KaKa nOAAa naSwv aAOW Kanx nov'Cov, / E1<; 0 KEV avSPcDn0101 OlO'CPEepEE001 1l1ynlJ<; (V.377-378). (Thus enduring many evils now, wander across the sea / until you find yourself among men nourished by Zeus.) The 24 use ofalvow here conjures up the image ofone caught in anoptcx, completely unable to find a path out ofthis land; like a man lost in an infinite, foreign desert, Odysseus can do no more than wander blindly through the pathless sea without his raft. In Book XII, Zeus strikes the fleet ofOdysseus in much the same way that Poseidon does in Book V to punish the Ithacans for slaughtering Helios' cattle: n8' fen OU I.lCXlvCX nolvlvov Ent xpovov' cx\\jfCX yap lJlve£ K£KIvTlYcD<; ZEo'tEpou<;, lG'to<; 8' ontGw nEGEV, onlvcx 'tE 1t (But [the ship] did not speed on for very much time, for quickly came the whistling west wind, rushing in with a great storm, and the storm ofthe wind smashed the forestays ofthe mast. And the mast fell backwards, and all the tackle fell together to the hold. And on the stem ofthe ship it struck the head ofthe steersman and smashed all the bones ofhis head together. And like a diver, he fell down from the platform, and his manly spirit left behind his bones.) Just as Poseidon, Zeus focuses on rendering useless the two most important tools for guiding Odysseus's ship, the mast and the steering device. In one deadly move the father ofthe gods demonstrates his power by breaking the mast with the power ofthe winds, so that it falls upon the head ofthe steersman, knocking him overboard and killing him. Having lost the man charged with guiding the ship, the Ithacans are driven into anoptcx, no longer able to control the path oftheir vessel. 19 When Zeus hurls his lightning down upon the ship, shattering it, Odysseus clings to the mast for dear life: 19 In much the same way, Apollo slays the steersman ofMenelaus as the Achaeans return from Troy: EVeD: KuSEpvrrnlv MEvEAaou cI:>o'iSoe; 'A1toUwv ate; aYD:VOle; SEA££(J01v E1tOlXO!lEVOe; K 25 £K OE ottO"'TOV apa~E Ito'Tl 'TPOTClV. (Xl.J'Tap En (Xl.J'TC!? £nl'TovOC;~E~A-ll'TO, ~OOC; Plvolo 'TE'TE'UXWC;· 'T0 P' a/1 (And it smashed its mast against the keel. But the backstay had been thrown upon it, made from the hide ofa bull. With thisI bound both ofthem together, the keel and the mast, and sitting upon them I was borne by the baneful winds.) Not even in the second halfofthe Odyssey, Odysseus' sea-wandering done, does Homer let us forget the anopia ofthe sea as the much-traveled man depicts a similar scene of escape from the dark sea on a mast in his great tale to Eumaeus the swineherd: ?,U'T,UP ,£/101 ~EUC; au'T02' ExOV'Tl nE~ aA-yEa 8U/10, W'TOV a/1al/1aKE'TOV Vll0C; KuavonpC!?polO £V XE1PEO"crtv E811KEV, onwc; En nn/1a (But even though I held woes in my heart, Zeus himself placed in my hands the tall mast ofthe blue-prowed ship, so that I might yet flee destruction. Having twisted myself around this, I was borne by the baneful winds.) Homer's repetition ofthis image emphasizes the importance ofthe mast as a tool of escaping anopia. In each ofthese scenes, even though the mast is no longer a part ofa vessel which may provide Odysseus with a nopoc; in this place ofanopia, it is nonetheless the only remnant ofOdysseus' great 'TEXVll, a tool with which he can save himself from falling into the complete and utter anopia ofthe sea. (Then Phoebus Apollo killed the steersman ofMenelaus, attacking him with his painless arrows, as he held the steering oar ofthe speeding ship between his hands.) As a result ofthe loss ofhis helmsman and the subsequent delay in the voyage caused by his burial, Menelaus is reported to have been struck by a storm ofZeus and forced to wander through the vast sea, reaching the shores ofEgypt before his journey's end. 26 Chapter Three: The rropOc; ofTeXVll According to Protagoras' /1u80C;, man's receipt of'rExVTj, embodied as fire, separates him from the other animals, for it enables him to fashion and use weapons. Odysseus' ability to craft and guide a seaworthy vessel, as studied in the previous chapter, is only one example ofhis 'rExVTj, one ofthe two main powers which allow him to achieve his VOG'WC;. By no means is Odysseus the mightiest among the characters of the Odyssey; certainly, the monstrous Polyphemus is empowered with a far greater might, but even among mortal men, Odysseus himselfadmits that Achilles surpasses him. It is thus necessary for Odysseus to draw from something beyond the might ofhis muscles to overcome the physical obstacles in his path and escape his anopia, and it is through his 'rEXVTj that he is able to gain the needed edge. The word which might best describe Odysseus' 'rEXVTj is A.En'r~20 (finely-refined) as it is in the skillful tying ofa knot to ensure that his treasure is kept safe, the fashioning ofwax earplugs for protection from the bewitching cries ofthe Sirens, and the firing of an arrow through a series ofaxe-rings as he reclaims his abandoned throne; it is precisely the opposite ofthe brutish strength of wild beasts and giant monsters. The 'rExVTj which Odysseus employs to deliver himself and others from anopia in fact transforms him and his companions from animalistic beings, like the weak, powerless humans which Prometheus and Epimetheus first create, to capable men empowered with the knowledge of craft. In tum, this 'rExVTj enables 20 In the Odyssey, ",£n,o<; is primarily used to describe something thin or small, such as the chains Hephaestus uses to catch his wife in bed with Ares in Demodocus' poem; however, the sophists and other fifth-century authors used this word to denote the same level ofintellectual refinement which marks the skill ofOdysseus' hands. 27 Odysseus to reduce his enemies, notably the Cyclops in Book IX and the suitors in the second halfofthe Odyssey, to mere beasts who are incapable ofharming him. The creature most notably contrasted with Odysseus with respect to '"CExV'll and pure strength in the Odyssey is the Cyclops Polyphemus. When Odysseus comes upon the island ofthe Cyclopes, he finds a land oflawless (a8E/-ll '"Col (There are neither counsel-bearing assemblies nor traditional rules oftheirs, but they live on the tops ofthe tall mountains in hollow caves. And each pronounces judgment over his children and wives, and they do not care for each other.) These beings, though certainly not incapable offending for themselves, are reminiscent ofthe humans ofProtagoras' creation 11u80C;. Once the men have been gifted by Prometheus with the they are still in anopia, being incapable ofdeveloping laws and, thus, of coexisting peacefully. Just as much as mankind is in anopia, the Cyclopes, perhaps without realizing it, are in similar anopia with respect to their lack of '"CExV'll and subsequent inabilities. In fact, this want ofthe craftsmanship to build a ship, a nopoc; across the seas, holds the giants hostage to the confines oftheir solitary island, as discussed in the previous chapter. Homer's descriptions ofthe Cyclops Polyphemus lend him the image ofthe uncultured, unsophisticated brute. From his reliance upon strength alone to his clumsy 28 attempts at tricking Odysseus into revealing the location ofhis ship, Polyphemus is quite the savage: a').,),,' 0 y' ava'lsae; E1:apOle; Enl X£tpae; 'laAA£, auv 8£ 8uw /lap\jJae; we; 1:£ aKuAaKae; n01:l yail) KOn1:'· EK 8' EyKEepaAOe; xa/la8te; pEE, 8£v£ 8£ yatav. 1:0Ue; 8£ 8ux /l£AEla1:l 1:a/leDv onAlaaa1:o 8opnov' ~a8t£ 8' we; 1:£ AEWV op£ (But springing up, he threw his hands upon my companions and, seizing two together, like puppies, struck them against the earth, and their brains flowed to the ground and wet the earth. And cutting them up limb by limb, he prepared his dinner, and as a mountain-bred lion he ate them and did not leave any remains, entrails, flesh, and marrowy bones.) Polyphemus resorts to absolutely brutal force to accomplish his goal, choosing to employ no tools.21 This dependence on animal strength is highlighted by the comparison of Polyphemus to a vicious lion (AEWV), the hunter-king ofthe animals. Just like a feral predator tearing away at his captured prey, the Cyclops is either indifferent to or, just as likely, incapable ofroasting this meat over crackling flames. This inability to use craft- bestowing fire is the token ofthe anopia in which humankind is imprisoned at the beginning ofProtagoras' /lv80e;. Moreover, in this tale men acknowledge the gods only once they have been given 1:ExVll and with it the means to send up sacrifices to heaven. Fittingly, the craftless Cyclops with his ignorance in fire-management denies the very power ofthe immortals.22 When Polyphemus returns home and seals Odysseus and his companions within the darkness ofthe cave, the Ithacans find their own homeward path blocked; incapable 21 Kon,' and lJ-ap\lf 29 ofshifting the giant rock by their own bodily strength, they are caught in a very physical anoP1a, one ofthe same sort that chains the Cyclopes to their island. This anoP1a only deepens as Polyphemus turns the humans into dinner. Through his savage slaughter of Odysseus' comrades, the giant reduces these men to animals, most obviously signaled through Homer's comparison ofthe humans to harmless puppies ( in fear at the back oftheir oppressor's cave is reminiscent ofan image of a poor, defenseless dog trying to hide from its malevolent master in some hidden niche ofthe house. In fact, it is not unlike the image ofthe humans which Plato presents to us in Protagoras' llu80C;; these men, not yet blessed with "'CEXVll, are completely unprotected, completely at a loss as to how to guard themselves against the well-endowed, mightier beasts.23 But unlike Protagoras' humans, Odysseus' comrades, led by their wily king, are not without skill. When the hour is late and all other means ofnegotiation have proven to be fruitless, Odysseus turns to his craft to defeat his foe. Fighting his battle in the realm offood chosen by the savage Cyclops, the much-traveled man is able to outwit him. Even in his preference ofdrinks, Polyphemusreveals his lack of"'CExVll. To supplement his human feast, Polyphemus selects milk as his drink: En' aKPll"'Cov yaAa n1vwv (IX.297). (And drinking with it unmixed milk). His preference for milk, an unmixed and 23 The scholiasts themselves remark on the anopia ofthe Ithacans at IX.294: ou(5qlia yap anTI Ka'w 30 pure (aKprl1:0e;) substance, likens the Cyclops to other milk-imbibing creatures, such as a young animal sustaining itself with milk from its mother. The unmixed quality ofthe milk implies that it has taken absolutely no craft to present it in this form. In contrast to that oftheir cruel oppressor, the choice drink ofthe Ithacans is wine; when they finally escape the grasp ofthe fuming Cyclops, Odysseus' men turn to a feast oftheir own: we; 'To'no /lEv nponcxv ~/lCXP £e; l1EA-lOV Kcx'Tcx8uv'TCX / ~/lEeCX 8cxtVU/lEVOl KPECX 'T' aCmE'TCX KCXt /lEeU ~8u (IX.556-557). (So then the whole day, until the sun set, we sat partaking ofcountless meats and sweet wine.) Unlike the readily- accessible, naturally-produced milk, wine is the product ofhuman craft; a certain level of active skill is required to transform sweet grapes into this potent drink. SYmbolically, Odysseus reveals that he has tamed the wildness ofthe grapes and holds command ofthe powerful wine by carrying it in a wine skin: ...a'TUp cXiyEOv aaKOV ExoV /lEA-CXVOe; o'ivow / ~8EOe; ... (IX.196). (But I had a goatskin bag ofdark, sweet / wine.) Through this 'TExVll, which the milk-imbibing Polyphemus does not possess, Odysseus is first able to impose anopicx upon the Cyclops. In offering him the well-fermented wine, Odysseus uses to his great advantage the fact that the Cyclops does not share a mastery ofthis substance. Forced into the anopicx accompanying the discovery ofthis strange element, Polyphemus is quickly left incapacitated. To arm himselfwith a tool to deliver the Ithacans from this dark dungeon into the world beyond, Odysseus relies upon his craft, transforming the blunt, clumsy weapon (poncxA-ov) ofhis captor into one more serviceable for his purposes: 'TOU,-., /lEV\ oaovU 'T , OpyUlCXV" Ey(J)V cxnEKo\lfcx, I ncxpcxa'TCXe;,I KCXt ncxpEellX' E1 31 (From this I, standing by it, cut off a piece as long as a fathom, and set it before my companions, and I ordered them to taper it. And they made it smooth. And standing by it, I sharpened the point, and quickly seizing it, I hardened it in the blazing fire.) The much-traveled man refines the Cyclops' club, used so often merely to smash and crush, into a A£n'to~ tool, a stave which in the hands ofone sufficiently skilled most effectively deals out damage. Once more, it is fire, the embodiment of'tExVTl, to which Odysseus turns to strengthen his weapon, skillfully manipulating this wild element to serve his needs. Once Polyphemus has been subdued by the wine, Odysseus demonstrates the same 'tExVTl in handling his tool: 01 /lEV /lOXAOV £AOV't£~ EAaivov, osuv En' aKPO!, o (Taking the stake ofolive-wood, sharp at its point, they thrust it into his eye. And I, leaning upon it, whirled it round, as when some man bores the timber ofa ship with a drill, and those below keep it spinning with the strap, clasping it on either side. And it runs ever continuously. Thus, taking the fire-sharpened stake, into his eye we thrust it, and warm blood flowed about it.) Wielding the product ofhis craft with precision and pure strength (E Odysseus seriously wounds his captor. Here, once more, Odysseus becomes the skillful shipbuilder. As in Book V, he creates the vessel which will unlock the much-desired nopo~ away from his insular prison and across the anoPla ofthe wide-stretching sea, here he crafts the catalyst for the appearance ofa nopo~ out ofthe anoPla of confinement 32 within the Cylops' cave. Homer furthers the association ofOdysseus with a skilled craftsman through the comparison ofhis stave to the tool ofa smith: w<; 8' 01:' av~p XaAK£V<; n£A£Kuv flEyaV ~E 0K£napvov £lv u8an \jfuxpw. SanTll. fl£yaAa laxov1:a (And as when a man, a bronze-worker, plunges a great axe or an adze into cold water, hissing loudly, to harden it, for afterwards there is strength in the iron. Thus, his eye hissed around the stake ofolive-wood.) Odysseus' stave, plunged into the eye ofPolyphemus, is likened to the tool ofa metal"': worker, in fact the very same one (0K£napvov) which Odysseus uses to create his nopo<; away from Calypso's island. Moreover, just as a smith completes the task ofcreating a tool by submerging it in water, just so, by sinking his stave into the Cyclops' eye, Odysseus completes the first step in creating an exit way, a nopo<;, out ofthe savage's den. Both ofthese comparisons to craftsmen, first a shipbuilder and then a smith, suggest that through his 1:£XVl1 Odysseus has lifted himselfout ofthis defenseless, bestial state and restored himselfto a human one. In contrast, dealt this harsh wound, predator turns prey as the Cyclops, who once turned his captives into frightened, defenseless animals, yields to becoming one himself: K UKAW\jf 8£ 01:£VaxWv 1:£ Kal w81vwv o8uV1l0l, X£P0l \jfl1Aa (And the Cyclops, groaning and suffering pains, groping about with hands, lifted the stone away from the doorway, and he sat himselfdown in the doorway, spreading out his hands, ifby chance he might catch someone going outside with the sheep.) 33 Driven yet further into the bowels of a bestial existence, Polyphemus reverts from the use ofsemi-intelligent, human speech to the cries and groans ofa wounded animal. He is not, however, the mighty lion as before, but, as the men ofProtagoras' /l:u80C;, a helpless creature, one without any means ofcaring for himselfor holding back his captives, for Odysseus has driven him into full anopia. The darkness ofthe cave which dims the vision ofthe Ithacans becomes the darkness ofhis eyes. Almost symbolically, the giant uses his one resource, his mighty strength, to roll back the massive stone and allow daylight to come flooding in, but these brutish efforts cannot save him, already conquered by 'tExVT] itself. Flailing in vain with his hands, the Cyclops does nothing more than make clumsy, unsuccessful attempts at catching his far cleverer foes. The stark difference between the skilled, human Odysseus and the unskilled, bestial Polyphemus is only magnified by the Ithacans' means ofescape from the cave. To ensure a safe escape from the Cyclops, Odysseus uses his capable hands to bind his men to the underside ofPolyphemus' sheep: ap0EVf:C; o'lEC; n0av EU'tPE (There were male sheep, well-fed, with thick fleeces, beautiful and large, having dark wool. These in silence I bound together with skillfully plaited withes, on which the Cyclops, the monster knowing lawlessness, slept, taking hold ofthree at a time. The one in the middle held the man, and the other two went on each side, saving my companions.) The Ithacans' ability to control the sheep and use them as means of escape, itselfa manifestation of Odysseus' cunning mind and 'tEXVT], helps to restore them to their true 34 human state. The blinded Cyclops is thoroughly deceived by Odysseus' trick; he even mistakes the forcedly delayed exit from the cave ofhis prized ram, which has been greatly weighed down by the body ofOdysseus, for a sign of some sorrow felt for his master: ...11" 0'U Y avaK10<; O (...Surely you mourn for the eye ofyour master, which an evil man blinded with his wretched companions, having conquered my mind with wine, Nobody, whom I think has not yet escaped destruction. If only you could share your thoughts with me and become endowed with speech to tell me where that one skulks about to avoid my fury, thus his brains would be scattered throughout the cave, here and there, by me striking them against the threshold, and my heart would find respite from these evils, which worthless Nobody gave me.) In these lines, Polyphemus reveals a more compassionate side to him than even when speaking with the other Cyclopes, let alone the Ithacans. The fact that the Cyclops relates best to a ram ofall the characters he encounters in the Odyssey further indicates his quite bestial nature. Just as Odysseus has driven the Cyclops into a7tOpta through his blindness, just so the ram is in a7tOpta, incapable oftelling his master that Odysseus has made him the catalyst for his escape. Just as in many ways the episode with the Cyclops is the ultimate test of Odysseus' wit and craft in the first halfofthe Odyssey, so in the second halfofthe poem, the confrontation with the suitors proves to be a similarly demanding trial. Just as 35 Odysseus uses his 1£XV'll to reduce Polyphemus to a maddened beast incapable ofhurting his fellow Ithacans, he must similarly employ his skilled hands and his knowledge of craft and fire, rather than mere strength alone, to rid his halls ofthe suitors who hold it. In a number ofways, however, Odysseus faces a more difficult task in dealing with the suitors, for while they lack the 1EXV'll which Odysseus possesses, as humans they do possess greater knowledge and skill than Polyphemus does. With all ofits feasting, drinking, and revelry, the society which the suitors have formed in the court ofOdysseus is by no means unlike that ofthe Cyclopes. Forgetting the typical laws ofa civilized society, the suitors have turned the house ofIthaca's mighty king into a den ofbase pleasures, a place where the lady Vice from Prodicus' tale ofthe young Heracles would feel right at home; Telemachus grieves over this to Athena, disguised as Mentes, near the opening ofthe Odyssey: 24 10{nOlCHv ~EV 1a-tmx ~EAa, K1Sapl<; Kal UOlb~, PEl', ETI:El UAA01PlOV ~1010v V~TI:OlVOV EbOUCHV, UVEPO<;, OU b~ TI:OU AEUK' ocnEa TI:USE1al o~~PCV KE1~Ev' ETI:' llTI:E1POU, nElv aAl Ku~a KUA1VbEl. (1.159-162) (These things concern these men, the cithara and song, easily, since they consume the livelihood ofanother without compensation, that ofman whose white bones rot somewhere in the rain, lying on land, or a wave in the sea rolls along.) Moreoever, while Amphinomus, the one decent man among the suitors, cautions his companions not to offend the gods by killing Telemachus, Eurymachus, much like Polyphemus, displays either a certain ignorance of divine will or a lack ofpiety by contradicting the seer Halitherses' interpretation ofan omen: 24 As Murnaghan (1987: 75-76) notes, a great example ofthe suitors' departure from the norms ofcivilized human society is their refusal to recognize the hospitality which guests are due: "The suitors can also be expected, in another way to recognize Odysseus in the form in which he is present to them, the form ofa homeless beggar. Whether or not they know who he is, they ought to receive him with hospitality and thereby to confer on him a measure ofrecognition." 36 cD YEPOV, E1 8' ayE VUV /laV'tEU£O CJ01CH 'tEKWCJlv 0'lKa8' 1WV, /l~ nou 'tl KaKOV naCJXWCJ1V an1CJCJw· 'tau'ta 8' EYW CJEO nOAAov a/lE1vwv /lav'tEuWSat. (II.178-180) (Old man, come, prophesy now to your children, going home, lest they may suffer some evil in the future. But about these things I am much better than you at prophesying.) Like the Cyclopes, these Achaeans are victims ofanop1a. Despite their great desire to take Penelope as a wife and with her the throne ofIthaca, the suitors are incapable of finding a successful means ofdoing so. Unlike regal Odysseus, who when overcome by anoP1a on Calypso's island mourns his inability to find a means ofescape, the suitors have to some degree accepted their own confusion and loss and have thus instead chosen to revel in their anop1a?5 When Odysseus finally returns to his island home, he once more finds himselfin anoP1a; uncertain how to purge his home ofthe suitors, he begs Athena for guidance: cD nonOt, n/laAa 8~ 'Aya/lE/lvovOC; 'A'tpt"l8ao (Oh me, quite certainly I was about to die the evil fate ofAgamemnon, son ofAtreus, in my halls, ifyou, goddess, had not duly told me all ofthese things. But come, weave your counsel, so that I may make them pay.) As in the Cyclops episode, the much-traveled man turns to his 'tEXVll to overcome this final obstacle blocking the path to rest. In comparison to the Cyclopes, the Achaean princes who have besieged the royal palace are much more reliant upon and skilled in the tools ofwar. Odysseus therefore makes it a priority to rob them ofthese very tools in an 25 Admittedly the suitors do make attempts at forcing themselves upon Penelope and seizing control of Ithaca, such as by secretly plotting to murder Telemachus, heir to the throne; however, after several years ofcamping out in Odysseus' court, the suitors' presence there is the physical symbol oftheir acceptance of this anopia and their inability to breech the walls ofthe inner home and gain access to the bedroom within. 37 attempt to reduce them to the primitive means ofliving ofPolyphemus and his giant brethren: onnO"rE KEV noA,uSouAm; EVl <\>PWl 8lJoW 'A8~vTl, VEU0W JlEV 'Wl EYW KE<\>aA,lJ, 0U b' £nfl"ra vO~0ae; ~I , I , I.. I ....., 000a "rOl EV JlEyapowlv apTlla "rEUXEa Kfl"ral Ee; Jluxov \njfTlA,ou 8aA,aJlou Ka"ra8ciVal aEtpae; nav"ra JlaA-'· ... vcD"i v b' O'iOWlV bUO <\>a0yava Kal bUO bOUpE KaA,A,tnEflv Kal bOlCX SoaYPla XEP0lv fA,E08al, we; (Xv Enl8u0av"rEe; fA,OtJlE8a' ...(XVI.282-286, 295-297) (When Athena ofmany devices places it in my heart, I will nod to you with my head, and when you perceive it, taking as many as are the weapons ofwar which lie in the halls to the innermost part ofthe high storeroom, set them all down.... But for us two alone, leave behind two swords and two spears and two shields ofox-hide for us to take up with our hands, so that, rushing to them, we may take them....) In ordering Telemachus to leave behind only weapons for the two ofthem, the king of Ithaca indicates that his plan is essentially to recreate the scenario in the Cyclops' cave in which he is able to overcome his more powerful adversary by possessing greater technological capabilities. Odysseus trusts that, as before, this "rEXVTl will prove to be more than an equal match for the suitors' far greater numbers. It is through his own superior knowledge of such weapomy that Odysseus is able to invent the pretext for stealing from the suitors the same tools which allow the men of Prometheus' Jlu80e; to defend themselves against wild animals and mark their separation from these creatures: EK Kanvou Ka"rE8TlK', EnEl OUKE'!l "ro10lV Eo?Kfl ola nO"rE TpotTlVbE KlWV Ka"rEA,flnEV 'ObU00EUe;, aA,A,a Ka"(1)Kw"ral, 0000V nupoe; lKE"r' au'!Jl~. (XVI.288-290) (I set them down out ofthe smoke, since they no longer resemble these, the ones ofthe sort that Odysseus going to Troy once left behind, 38 but they have been marred, since so much the breath ofthe fire comes to them.) Once again, Odysseus turns to fire, the very symbol of'tExVTl, to accomplish his goals. Here, however, he does not physically use fire to fashion weapons with which he might take on the suitors; rather, he uses his knowledge offire to conceive an appropriate excuse for liberating the weapons ofhis hall from their grasp without raising any questions. Odysseus adds greater weight to this justification by once more relying on his TCPO<; 8' En Kat 'to8E /lElSOV EVt (Besides, the son of Cronus placed this greater thing in my heart, as well, that somehow drinking, causing strife among yourselves, you may wound one another and bring shame upon the feasts and the courting, for iron itselfdraws on a man.) Once again wily Odysseus reveals his mastery ofwine, here through the mere comprehension of and rightful respect for its power. Certainly, wine is the choice drink ofthe suitors, unlike the primitive Cyclops; however, this by no means implies that they have control over the substance. In fact, their drunken behavior implies quite the opposite; their inability to realize and accept their limitations reveals a lack ofthe mastery ofthe powerful wine which Odysseus holds easily. When the disguised Odysseus begs to test his own bow, Antinous declares that wine has overpowered the beggar, not at all realizing the way his own drink overcomes /lTl8' a't others too, / whoever takes it greedily and does not drink in due measure.) As the suitors 39 demonstrate ample times throughout the Odyssey their inability to hold their alcohol causes them to reveal their inner bestial characters. In fact, the belligerent nature ofthe drunken suitors mirrors that ofthe men in Protagoras' ~uOoc;. Once Prometheus has gifted the humans with the knowledge oftools and craft, they are still incapable of coexisting peacefully because oftheir warlike natures. To prevent the suitors from reaching their weapons or escaping the impending doom, Odysseus proceeds to make plans for sealing offhis court from the outside world: UAAOt ~EV yap neXv[;£c;, newt ~V11 (For all the others, as many as are the noble suitors, will not suffer to give me the bow and quiver. But you, godly Eumaeus, bringing the bow up through the house, set it in my hands and tell the women to secure the doors ofthe hall, fit closely together. ... And upon you, godly Philoetius, I lay it to secure the doors ofthe courtyard with the bar and to tie a knot swiftly on it.) These lines again suggest that Odysseus' plan will tum his great hall into the cave ofthe Cyclops Polyphemus. As ifrecalling his own nearly fatal encounter with the giant, the great tactician wishes to drive the suitors into the same anopla which he and his men faced when cornered in the Cyclops' lair and thus free himselffrom his own anopla. When no conventional weapons are at hand, and the suitors are forced to resort to their own craft to arm themselves, they find their skills utterly insufficient. Angered by the reproaches ofthe disguised Odysseus, Antinous hurls a stool against the beggar: wc; up' £ 40 £l-t1t£80v, ou8' apa fllV mlrllA£v ~£AOC; 'AvnvoolO, (XVII.462-464) (Thus he spoke and taking a foot-stool threw it at his right shoulder, the lowest part down by the back. But he stood, steady as a rock, and the weapon ofAntinous did not cause him to fall.) Antinous' use ofthe blunt stool as a weapon is reminiscent ofthe club ofPolyphemus, used for crushing without the need of any skill. Despite the suitor's fullest intentions of maiming Odysseus, the much-traveled man does not falter from the blow ofthe clumsy weapon. Similarly, Eurymachus and Ctesippus later attempt to strike Odysseus with a stool and a pig's hoof, respectively, however, the beggar nimbly avoids their missiles. Unlike Odysseus, who with all his craft is able to transform the blunt tool ofthe Cyclops into the serviceable weapon which helps to deliver him from an:opla, all three ofthese suitors fail to tum such awkward objects into effective weapons. The suitors demonstrate this same lack oft£XVTI in their endeavors to string the bow ofOdysseus; Leiodes, the first prince to attempt this feat, sets the unsuccessful pattern which his comrades follow: ac; pa tot£ n:PWtOC; to1;ov Aa~£ Kat ~£AOC; WKU. 0t11 8' ap' En:' ou8av 1-cOV Kat tOSOD n:£lp~ns£v, ou8£ fllV EVtaVD0£' n:ptV yap Kafl£ X£tpac; aV£AKwv atpln:tODC; (Then he first seized the bow and a swift arrow; and, going to the threshold, he stood upon it and tested the bow. But he did not bend it, for before that he grew tired in his unhardened, delicate hands, bending it....) The hands ofLeiodes, described as atpln:tODC; (not hardened) and grown unaccustomed to real work, ifever they knew it, during the long and leisurely siege ofOdysseus' home. These hands are the physical representation ofthe lack of experience in craft which holds the suitors. Unlike the hands ofmighty Odysseus, these 41 hands are not capable ofrefined, skillful acts. In a desperate attempt not to be outdone by the memory ofOdysseus, Eurymachus suggests turning to fire for assistance in stringing the great bow ofIthaca's king: Eupu~axoe; 8' il811 1:0~OV ~E1:eX XEP (And now Eurymachus moved the bow between his hands, warming it here and there with the blaze ofthe fire. But not even so was he able to bend it, and he was oppressed in his glorious heart.) Like Leiodes before him, Eurymachus cannot match the dexterity ofwily Odysseus; not even with the help offire can he accomplish his task. This powerful element which is capable oftransforming a piece ofwood into a mighty weapon, at least when manipulated by skillful hands, is ofno use to Eurymachus, lacking the needed to control its force. While his unwelcome guests demonstrate nothing but a lack ofskill with the bow, Odysseus, in contrast, proves that he has the 1:EXVl1 necessary not only to string it but to use it in ridding his palace ofthis great pestilence: ...U1:eXp 1COA,U~l11:le; '08U (...But Odysseus ofmany devices immediately when he took the bow in his hands and looked it all over, as when a man skilled in the lyre and in song easily bends a string around a new peg, fastening the well plaited gut ofa sheep on both sides, thus Odysseus bent the great bow without effort. Taking it in his right hand he tested the bowstring, 42 And it sang out beautifully its twang, like a swallow.) Just as in confronting the Cyclops, here Odysseus is able to reaffirm his human nature by relying on his 'tEXVTl, as the craftsman meets the bard. Homer transforms the Ithacan's mighty weapon, the instrument ofdeath, into the beautiful tool of a skilled musician and in doing so captures the great art with which Odysseus handles his tool ofwar. The very precision required of a lyre-player to deliver a beautiful song is the same precision required of a warrior to deliver a true shot from his bow, and it is certainly found in the worn palms ofthis much-enduring man, as he shows that he is truly a man capable of cutting his arrow's path straight through the axe-rings stationed for the competition: E'lAE'to 8' cDKUV o'lcr-cov, 0 01. napEKEt'W 'tpanE~1J Y'UIJ,Voe;' 't01. 8' aAAOt K01ATle; EVW0SE <\lapE'TpTle; KEla'to, 'TWV 'tai flJ,EAAOV 'Axato1. nEtpn0E0Sat. 'TOV p' £n1. nnXEt EAWV EAKEV VE'UpllV YA'U<\l18ae; 'TE, a1J10SEV £K 81<\lpoto KaSnIJ,EVOe;, nKE 8' O'10'TOV aV'ta 'tt'T'U0KOIJ,EVOe;, nEAEKEwV 8' OUK ~IJ,SPO'tE nav'twv npw'tTle; 0'tEtAEt ~e;, 8ta 8' alJ,nEpEe; llASE Supa~E loe; XaAKoSapne;· ... (XXI.416-423) (And he took a swift arrow, which lay by him on the table out ofits case, but the others lay within the hollow quiver, which soon the Aecheans were going to test. Taking this upon the handle he drew back the bowstring and the notches from the seat where he was sitting, and he sent forth the arrow, aiming in front ofhim. And he did not fail to hit all the axes, from the very first handle, but the arrow, heavy with bronze, passing through came to the door....) Having once and for all demonstrated that he is the only man worthy ofPenelope's hand and Ithaca's throne, Odysseus turns his attention and his bow to the pending task of purging his halls; in answer to the dull, harmless blow which Antinous lays upon Odysseus in Book XVII, Ithaca's king aims his first sure arrow at the neck ofthe suitor: 43 aUXEVoc; 11A.us' aKWKrl (XXII. 15-16). (But Odysseus, aiming at his throat, struck him with the arrow, / and the point went straight through the soft neck.) Most unfortunately for Antinuous, Odysseus' 1:EXVT] has armed him with a much more lethal weapon than the suitor's stool, and the latter's arrow is sure. Outraged by the death oftheir outspoken companion, the suitors immediately respond with threats ofOdysseus' eminent demise: ~£l V£, KaKwc; av8pwv 1:o~aS£al' OUKE1:' aESA.WV aA.A.wv avnaonc;' VDV 1:01 awc; alnuc; OA.£SpOC;. Kal yap 8~ VDV (Stranger, in an evil hour you shoot at men with the bow. No longer will you join other contests. Now sheer destruction is inevitable for you. For you also now killed a man who was by far the best ofthe young men in Ithaca. Therefore, the vultures will hereafter feed on you.) In promising to desecrate Odysseus' body by allowing vultures to feed upon it, the suitors attempt to make themselves out to be as fearsome as these birds ofprey; however, these threats prove to be no more than empty words, and without much ofa struggle, Odysseus proceeds to slaughter his uninvited guests, equipped with neither spears nor armor. In fact, it is Odysseus who plays the role ofa vulture here: 01 8' E (And these men fled down the hall, like a herd ofcattle, which a flashing gad-fly, rushing at them, puts in a commotion in the spring season, when the days become long. 44 But they, like vultures with hooked talons and curved beaks, who coming from the mountains dart upon birds, who, cowering away from the clouds, sent themselves upon the plain. And they destroy them, springing upon them, and neither any defense nor escape comes for them. And men rejoice at the chase. Thus, springing upon the suitors, they struck them throughout the home, one after another....) Mighty Odysseus, aided by Athena, thus drives the suitors into anOPla, as ifthey were helpless cattle. Even once they have been armed with spears, tools which separate men from beast, with less skill at handling such weapons they are still no more than small birds to be preyed upon by Odysseus and his companions, the true vultures in this fight. While the slaughter which Odysseus' 1:EXVll allows transforms him into a mighty predator, one whose prey cannot escape him, it is still a bestial state of existence.26 At the same time, however, Homer reminds us that Odysseus' continual reliance upon 1:EXVll simultaneously preserves the human within him: 1:0Ue; DE 'iDEV /laA-a nav1:ae; EV a'i/lan Ka1 KOVllJO"l nEn1:EQHae; noU,Q'IJe;, cD()'T' lxSuae;, oue; S' cXA-1 nEe; K01A-OV Ee; alY1aA-OV nOA-1ne; EK1:0crSE SaA-acrcrlle; D1K1:UO! EsEpucrav nOA- UCDTI:(~· Ot DE 1:E naV1:Ee; KU/laS' CXA-Oe; nOSEOV1:Ee; En1 \jfa/laSOw1 KExUV1:al· 1:WV /lEV 1:' , REA-we; (But he sawall ofthem in the blood and dust, the many having fallen, like fish, which fishermen pulled onto the sunken beach from the grey sea in their fishing net ofmuch meshing. And they all, desiring the waves ofthe sea, lie upon the sand, whose spirit the shining sun takes away. Thus, the suitors then lay upon one another.) The dying suitors have not been overcome by mere strength alone but by a clever trap and human craft. Ifthese defeated princes are like fish out ofwater, then Odysseus is the 26 Similarly, Odysseus, covered in blood from his slaughter, is compared to a lion at XII.402. 45 fisherman who has ensnared them, and his trap is the product ofhis cunning mind and his renowned 1:£XV11, which separates man from beast and allows him to maintain, like the fisherman, a human identity, savage as he is in murdering the suitors. 46 Chapter Four: The rropOC; ofAoyot The ultimate goal offifth-century Athens' sophists was to become unmatched in oration, to be able to win any argument, or in the words ofProtagoras, "Cov Tl"C"CCD ... A.oyov KPEi"C"CCD 7wlElv (Protagoras, DK 6b) (to make the weaker argument the stronger one). For this reason above all else, Odysseus is the very model ofsophistic teaching. An essential part ofOdysseus' plan to rid his palace ofthe gluttonous suitors is the removal ofhis arms from the great hall, for this, combined with the suitors' lack ohfxVn, ensures that he will hold the advantage ofhuman-invented weaponry over his opponents; however, it is Odysseus' clever justification for their removal which allows his plan to succeed. Rely upon it heavily as he may, Odysseus cannot hope to overcome the many obstacles he encounters in blazing his trail home by the skill ofhis hands alone. In fact, the crafty Ithacan's greatest weapon ofall is perhaps speech itself. With his shrewd mind, he is able to work, twist, and adapt words to his advantage to reach his desired end, just as he does to fire and physical tools with his skillful hands. In confronting the more civil characters ofthe Odyssey, such as Circe and Nausicaa, Odysseus is able to rely upon flattery and his ability to evoke pity in their compassionate hearts, to convince them to help him out ofhis anopia; however, when dealing with more hostile, bestial characters, such as the Cyclops Polyphemus and the suitors, he resorts to using deception to bend them to his will. While his skillful deception certainly enables Odysseus to escape from anopia in such instances, it carries with it a negative effect in that it strips him ofthe unique human identity which the wanderer subsequently feels the need to reassert. 47 Just as in accounting for the removal ofhis arms from the great hall, Odysseus often needs to support the craft ofhis hands with his persuasive rhetoric. While in escaping from the anopia thrust on him by the mighty Polyphemus Odysseus relies primarily on his craft, he must also evoke his powers ofspeech to overcome his foe. Through his much sharper wit, the crafty orator is able to slip a tiny thought into the drunken mind ofthe Cyclops which allows his plan for escape, undertaken by the skill and power ofhis hands, to lead to success. When asked his name by Polyphemus, Odysseus responds with "Nobody" (OU11<;), repeatedly feeding it to the Cyclops to ensure that he does not forget: KUKAW\jf, E1PW'l~<; /l' ovo/la KAlHOV, aunxp EyeD 'lOt E~EPEW' cru OE /lOt 00<; ~EivlOV, w<; nEp 1>nE0TI1<;. OU11<; E/loi y' ovo/la' OU11V OE /lE KtKA~0KO'U0t /l~Tr1P ~OE na'l~p ~o' aAAOt naV'lE<; E-ratpot. (IX.364-367) (Cyclops, you ask me for my famous name, and I will tell you it. But give me a guest's gift, just as you promised. Nobody is my name, and they call me Nobody, my mother and my father and all my other companions.) When Polyphemus howls in pain from the blow dealt to his eye, his cry draws the attention ofhis monstrous brethren, yet Odysseus' trick, conceived in the hope of warding offthese neighboring Cyclopes, works like a charm in its moment oftrial: 'lin'lE '1000V, DOAU ("Why did you cry out thus, Polyphemus, hurt so badly, 48 through the fragrant night and make us unable to sleep? Is someone among mortals driving your sheep from you, unwilling? Or is someone killing you yourselfby trickery or might?" And in reply mighty Polyphemus addressed them from the cave, "0 friends, Nobody is killing me by trickery and not by might." And answering him they spoke winged words, "Ifindeed nobody is doing violence to you, being alone, it is not at all possible to escape a disease from great Zeus, but, you, pray to our father, King Poseidon.") With the single word Ou'w;, Odysseus justifies all the praises he has received for his supreme command oflanguage, as he is able to baffle completely the monstrous Cyclopes. In fact, the king of Ithaca does not need to say even a single word in this scene to manipulate the conversation which unfolds. From the simple word Oun~ fed to him, Polyphemus presents his brothers with the lie which Odysseus has prepared, while, as a puppeteer hidden from his audience amongst the shadows, from the darkness ofthe cave the crafty Achaean watches as his puppet performs perfectly, giving no indication ofhis master's very existence.27 In a number ofother episodes, Odysseus is able to escape from anopia through persuasion alone, rather than 'T£XVll; before less brutish and more compassionate audiences, he often applies flattery or seeks pity, minimizing his use ofdeception in these cases. Examples ofthis form include his encounters with Arete and Calypso, as he humbles himselfbefore the Phaeacian queen's feet, begging for protection in her kingdom, or appeases the disappointed goddess, admitting that she far surpasses his beloved wife in beauty. A third instance in which Odysseus, in anopia, applies such tactics is in dealing with Circe. As advised by Hermes, the king ofIthaca forces the goddess to swear an oath that she will do him no harm, not rob him ofhis manhood 27 In the lines that immediately follow this dialogue, Odysseus notes his own verbal skill in punning on his newly invented name: ... £/-lOy 0' £YEACXCi 49 (avrlvopa). The messenger-god, however, recommends no particular speech by which he may secure deliverance for his men from their enchanted bestial states, and, thus, the great leader sits in anopla in the home ofthe witch:28 dl:wv 0' aloolll 1:a~lll nap£811KE <\>£po'U0a, iioa1:a no"A"A' Ent8E10a, xaplso~£Vll napEOV1:CDV. E08£~EVat 0' EK£"AE'UEV' E~0 0' oux ~voavE 8'U~0, a"AA.' ~~llV a"A"Ao<\>pov£wv, KaKeX 0' 000E'tO 8'U~o<;. (x'371-374) (And bringing bread, the revered housekeeper set it before me, adding to it many meats, giving freely ofthe things she had. And she ordered me to eat, but it did not please my spirit. But I sat there, dazed, and my spirit foresaw evils.) Neither food nor any ofthe other gifts ofCirce's abode is ofany interest to Odysseus, pondering in his mind how he may obtain freedom for his men. Yet in this uncertainty, he reaches out to the compassionate heart ofthe goddess, wearing openly the genuine sorrow which he feels: K1PKll 0' w<; EV01l0EV E~' ~~EVOV ouo' Enl 011:CQ XE~lpa<; la"A"AOV1:a, Kpa1:EpOV O£ ~E n£v80<; EXOV1:a, aYXl napl(J1:a~£Vll EnEa n1:EpOEV1:a np0011uoa' '1:1<\>8' OU1:w<;, '00'U0EU, Ka1:' ap' [SEat 100<; avauoCQ, 8'U~ov EOWV, ~PeD~ll<; 0' OUX an1:Eat ouoE nOTiho<;; nn va no'U oo"Aov a"A"Aov O·lEat· ouo£ 1:1 0E xp~ o£lol~Ev' ~Oll yap 1:01 aneD~00a Kap1:EpOV OpKOV.' W<; E<\>a1:', aU1:eXp EyeD ~lV a~£l~O~EVO<; np00£ElnOV' 'cD K1PKll, 1:1<; yap KEV aVrlP, 0<; Eval(Jl~o<; iill, nplv 1:"Aalll na00a08at EOll1:UO<; ~oE nOTiho<;, nplv "AU0a08' £1:apo'U<; Kal EV o<\>8a"A~0101 v lO£08at; a"A"A' El o~ npo<\>pa00a nlElv <\>aY£~Ev 1:E KE"AEU£l<;, "AU00v, lV' o<\>8a"A~01(Jlv 'iow Eplllpa<; halpo'U<;.' (x'375-387) (And when Circe saw me sitting, not throwing my hands upon the bread, but holding onto powerful sorrow, standing near me she addressed me with winged words: "Why thus, Odysseus, do you sit like a mute, 28 As in the episode with the Cyclops, Odysseus' adversary reduces his men into mere animals. Once again the anopia results from the concern he feels for returning them to their human identities and the difficulty in doing so. 50 consuming your spirit, and not touch food nor drink? Is it that you are thinking ofsome other trick? Nor is it necessary for you to fear anything. For already I swore a mighty oath to you." Thus she spoke, and I, replying, addressed her: "0 Circe, what man who is just could bear to partake offood and drink before he freed his companions and saw them with his eyes? But ifindeed with earnestness you order me to drink and eat, free them, so that I may see with my eyes my faithful companions.") Revealing his veteran knowledge not to act too eagerly, Odysseus is reluctant to voice his feelings until Circe first asks ofhis unease, thus revealing her concern for him and her subsequent vulnerability to his persuasive ways. Now knowing that the goddess hangs upon his happiness, Odysseus is in essence able to barter for the freedom ofthe porcine Ithacans by intimating that he will not submit to Circe's desires until they are men once The great tactician further demonstrates the might ofhis oral persuasiveness in encountering Nausicaa and negotiating a peaceful stay among the Phaeacians; while he is not quite as honest with the young maiden as he is with Circe, he still primarily seeks to flatter her and evoke pity for himselfwithin her heart, rather than beguile her. In Book V, Odysseus, tested by the might ofPoseidon, manages to survive the treachery ofthe wild, untamed sea; forced to swim the last leg ofhis trek, the much-traveled man manages to tap into a final reservoir ofstrength as he pulls himselfonto dry ground, half- dead. Exhausted from his arduous journey, Odysseus finds himselfonce more in anoP1a: cD 1101 EYW, 11 naSw; 11 VU 1101 IlnKHHa YEVTl1al; £1 IlEV K' EV n01aw~ oUO"KTloEa vUK1a 29 In tum, Circe successfully persuades Odysseus to stay with her, as is discussed in the following chapter. Just as Odysseus relies upon Circe's sympathy to convince her to free his men, as Finley (1978: 108) notes, the goddess in part relies upon the connection forged by this sympathy for the Ithacans to convince Odysseus to stay with her: "She knows, she says, their toils on the fishy sea and their sufferings on land from violent men....Her spell includes her sympathy, much as Helen's for the sad company in Sparta and the Sirens' later for Odysseus." Circe's persuasion 51 /lTl /l' a/l'u8l<; 01:tSTl 1:E KaK~ Kal SnA:Uc.; E£P0Tl ES oAtYTl1tElvt Tlc.; 8a/lCX0lJ KEKa<\>TlO1:a SLl/lOy· aUPTl 8' EK 1to1:a/lou \jfLlXP~ 1tY£El ~WSl 1tpo. E1 8£ KEY Ec.; KlvlTUY ayasac.; Kal 8a0KlOY UlvTlY Sa/lymc.; EY 1tLlKly610l Ka1:a8paSw, £1 /lE /lESEtTl pt yoc.; Kal Ka/la1:oc.;, ylvLlKEPOc.; 8£ /lOl U1tYoc.; E1t£lvSlJ, 8Et8w, /l~ STlPE00lY ElvWP Kal Kup/la y£yw/lal. (V.465-473) (0 me, what will I suffer? What now at long last will happen to me? If I should keep watch along the river through the night, bringing pain, I fear that the terrible frost and the copious dew would together conquer my spirit, breathing forth, out ofits weakness, and a cold breeze blows from the river before dawn. But ifclimbing up the hillside and the thickly shaded forest I should go to sleep in the thick bushes, ifthe cold and fatigue should release me, and sweet sleep should come upon me, I fear that I would become the spoil and prey ofwild beasts.) Just as in facing the Cyclops, he is again prey to whatever fiercer and stronger beasts haunt these unknown shores, standing naked and unarmed like the men ofProtagoras' /luSoc.;. But unlike these men, wily Odysseus has certainly not forgotten his 00<\>ta. Crawling into a full thicket, he is able to find some cover for himselffrom the elements in the hope that he will last the night; though he certainly has not delivered himselffrom this land ofa1tOpta, he has succeeded in buying himselfmore time to find a 1tOpoc.;. Homer compares the exhausted sojourner here to the covered ashes of a fire which remain to be rekindled: cDc.; 8' 01:E 1:lc.; 8alvoy 01t08l11. EY£KPLl\jfE /lElvatVll. aypou E1t' E0xannc.;, ci? /l~ 1tapa YEt1:0YEc.; alvlvol, 01t£p/la 1tLlPOc.; 0eDSWY, '1 ya /lTl 1tOSEY alvlvOSEY aum, cDc.; '08Ll0EVc.; <\>UlvlvOl0l KalvU\jfa1:o ... (V.488-491) (And as when someone hides a brand among dark smoldering ashes on the edge ofthe country, near which there are no other neighbors, saving the seed ofthe fire, so that he may not have to get a light from somewhere else, thus Odysseus hid himself among the leaves....) 52 In likening Odysseus to a seed offire, the very image of1:EXVll, that ability which separates man from beast, the poet reveals that as reduced as he is to a bestial state, the human identity is still very much within him. At the opening ofBook VI, Homer leaves the worn-out Odysseus to introduce his audience to Nausicaa; Athena visits the maiden in her sleep to encourage her to journey down to the river to wash her clothes, to tidy herselfin hope ofa future marriage. Our first image ofthe wakened Phaeacian princess is ofher attempting to persuade her father to let her travel there: nanna ("Dear father, would you not equip a high, well-wheeled wagon for me, so that I may go to the river to wash my splendid clothes, which lie here dirtied? And it is fitting for you yourself, being among the leading men, to give counsel having clean clothes on your skin. And five dear sons of yours are in your halls, two being married, and three lusty unmarried youths. And these always wish to go to the dance having newly washed clothes. All these things have been a concern ofmy heart." Thus she spoke, for she was ashamed to name out flourishing marriage to her death father. But he perceived all....) Too shy to voice her dreams ofmarriage, she opts to transfer the cause ofher outing to her father and brothers' dirtied clothes, rather than her own, yet her father is not fooled by her simple lie. Admittedly the princess is sufficiently persuasive for her father to grant 53 her wish, but this success does not at all indicate an extensive command oforal deception, flattery, or persuasion in general; rather her plea is successful simply because it is received by her loving father's sympathetic ears. Homer highlights Nausicaa's virgin naivete by comparing her to the goddess Artemis: 01T\ 8' "Ap1EI.W; Elm Ka1' oupEa tOXEalpa, ~ Ka1eX TT\uYE10v nEplllnKE10V ~ 'Epullav8ov, 1EpnOIlEVT\ Kanpowl Kal WKEl1]~ Elva (And such as Artemis, the shedder ofarrows, goes down along the mountains, down either very high Taygetus or Erymanthus, entertaining herselfwith boars and swift deer, and with her the nymphs, the daughters ofAegis-bearing Zeus, play, haunting the country. And Leto rejoices in her heart. And above all that one holds her head and her brow And is easily recognized, but all are beautiful. Thus, the unmarried maiden stood out among her handmaids.) While in many ways this simile focuses on the unsurpassed beauty ofthe goddess and the maiden, it serves a much greater purpose here. Because ofher preserved maidenhood, Artemis must be thought ofnot just in terms ofher untouched beauty but also her true innocence. The goddess and her nymphs' hunt in this passage is characterized by na1soum (play, sport). It is not true war, not the war known by experienced Ares, but rather a maiden's merry game; this hunt for deer, the primary animal associated with Artemis, seems like a friendly game ofchase to the frolicking goddess. 3D Similarly, Nausicaa, naively confident from her successful attempt at persuading her father, 30 When Artemis engages in actual battle in Book XXI ofthe Iliad, Hera proves that the woodland huntress has no claim to the realm ofwarfare by utterly defeating her. 54 journeys out to meet Odysseus on a battlefield which she does not truly comprehend, one on which the lone sojourner is a seasoned warrior. When the Ithacan awakens this morning, he finds himself still in a1topta, no longer fearing the threat ofwild beasts but now ofan unknown people, as he hears the maidens shouting by the river: (Then the princess threw the ball after a handmaid; she missed the handmaid and threw it into a deep whirlpool. And they cried out loudly. And godly Odysseus awoke, and sitting up he debated in his heart and spirit: "0 me, to the land ofwhat mortals have I now come? Are they wanton and wild, not just, or are they fond ofstrangers and have a god-fearing mind?") Troubled at heart, the wily king of Ithaca decides that it is best to discover what sort of people he now faces. As the wearied sojourner bursts out ofthe bushes, Homer enhances the image ofOdysseus in this reduced, more bestial state by comparing him to a mighty lion: Sll 0' 'lll£V cD<; 1:£ A.£WV OPWt1:poo<; aA.Kt 1t£1tol8w<;, 0<; 1:' £l (And he made his way, as a lion bred in the mountains putting his trust in his spirit, who goes out being rained and blown upon, and his eyes blaze within him. And he goes out among the cattle or sheep or among the wild deer. And his stomach commands him 55 to test the sheep and to come even into the closely fitted sheepfold. Thus, Odysseus was going to mingle with the well-tressed maidens, though being naked, for necessity came to him.) This simile perfectly captures the essence ofthe anopia which Odysseus faces and the ways in which he chooses to respond. Like the lion in dire need offood, time and again Odysseus is in equal need ofa napoe; out ofhis anopia. Just as pure instinct drives forth the king ofthe animals to cut his own path towards that life-sustaining sustenance, just so pure necessity forces the much-enduring man to act, and he does so without a second thought, willing to undertake all that is necessary, within the bounds ofpiety, to ensure his vaG'we;. Reduced nearly completely to an animal though he may be in his naked and physically unprotected state, Odysseus is no longer the poor, wounded creature crawling into a hole at the end ofBook V or the weak humans, bereft of any skill, in Protagoras' /lU8oe;. Now he is the mighty lion, and like the lion in all its strength and with its fierce claws and teeth, Odysseus, naked as he is, is well armed for his current struggle. Relying solely upon his sharp mind and the words ofhis mouth, he is prepared to tum himself, the hunted, into the hunter. Through this simile, Homer transforms Nausicaa, naIve in her youth and inexperienced in the ways oforal persuasion, into a sheep or deer, an innocent animal which stands no chance ofescaping the mighty lion, wily Odysseus. In daring to vie with the Ithacan king, the princess has moved from the role ofthe predator pursuing the deer in the previous simile to the prey, becoming the very deer which she sought, to counterbalance the transformation ofOdysseus. 56 When the silver-tongued king emerges from the brush to view his audience, he reads her well; though being at a temporary loss how to approach the situation, the master oforal persuasion decides to employ that faculty to charm her: youvou~al crE, avacrcra' 8EOC; vu nc;, n ~po'tOC; Ecrm; El ~£V nc; 8EOC; Ecrm, 'tol oupavov EUPUV Exoumv, 'Ap't£~lol crE EyeD YE, ~lOC; KOUPl) ~EyaA,OlO, E100C; 'tE ~£YE80C; 'tE (I kneel before you, queen. Now are you some goddess or a mortal? Ifyou are some goddess, those who hold the wide heavens, I liken you most closely to Artemis, the maiden-daughter ofgreat Zeus, in appearance and size and form. But ifyou are someone among mortals, those who live upon the earth, three times blessed are your father and lady mother, and three times blessed are your brothers. Quite certainly their spirit is always warmed with joys on account ofyou, beholding you, such a young shoot, going to the dance. But that one is most blessed beyond the others, who, prevailing with the bride-price, leads you home. For not ever did I behold such a mortal with my eyes, neither man nor woman; wonder holds me, looking upon you. Once in Delos I beheld by the altar ofApollo just such a young palm tree shooting up. For I went there too, and many people followed me, a journey in which terrible sorrows were certainly going to be mine. And thus, just as seeing that one too I became lost in wonder in my heart 57 for a long time, since not ever did such a shoot come up from the ground, just so I marvel and wonder at you, lady, and I deeply fear to clasp your knees....) This dazzling address, only the first part ofhis full speech, is a prime example of Odysseus' ability to flatter his audience; in contrast with the two word address (narC1tcx Odysseus immediately begs whether or not the princess is a goddess, and ifnot, the much-traveled man declares that the princess is the most beautiful mortal he has ever seen, mirroring Homer's affinity for similes in comparing her to a young palm tree he once viewed in Delos, unmatched in beauty. Through this simile, he quite cleverly chances a mention ofhis many travels and subsequent woes, though he does not attempt to overload her with his griefat such an early point in his monologue; the Achaean merely slips in a single reference to his current troubles while bombarding Nausicaa with his praise to start to evoke her pity. None ofthese clever moves points as directly to Odysseus' keen ability to know his audience, however, as two prominent points in Homer's narrative which indicate that the Ithacan knows exactly the type he has encountered. First, Odysseus immediately recognizes that ifNausicaa is a goddess, she must be Artemis; since Homer, the great bard-and our narrator-first establishes this comparison, we can accept it as accurate. Odysseus attributes his assessment merely to Nausicaa's appearance (£\80C;), stature (IlEy£80C;), and form ( the likeness ofNausicaa and Artemis on the grounds ofmore than physical appearance, namely ofa shared innocence, it follows that even before he begins his address Odysseus 58 detects this naivete through a heightened sensitivity to such things. While he does not originally cite this detected innocence among his reasons for comparing the Phaeacian princess to the goddess, he does intimate it as he continues. When the great orator addresses the scenario in which Nausicaa is a mortal woman, he automatically assumes that she is unwed, further demonstrating his ability to know the princess instantaneously and thus to play to her heart's greatest desire. Only once Odysseus has anointed the Phaeacian princess with these flattering words does he proceed to tell her ofhis countless woes and finally ask for that which he truly seeks, guidance: a01:V 8E 1101 8C:l~ov, 8o~ 8£ pciKO~ all E1Avila 0nc:ipwv £xc:~ Evsci8' 10u0a (VI.178-179). (But show me your city, and give me a rag to throw about myself, / ifby chance coming here you had some wrapper for the clothes.) The tired sojourner, here, as he does in introducing himselfto the Cyclops as OU1:l~, seeks to have Nausicaa aid him in creating a path out ofhis anopia. In fact, with his persuasive speech Odysseus actually enlists Nausicaa as a guide, turning the princess herself and her status in the Phaeacian court into his n6po~, for only through her can he receive the basic protection of clothing, a safe return to civilization, and subsequently, the hospitality ofAlcinous. The Phaeacian maiden, completely taken by his flattery and his woeful story, yields to his requests immediately, showering generous gifts upon the stranger. In the second halfofthe Odyssey, Odysseus begins to rely increasingly upon deception, as well as on his other oral abilities; his dealings with the native Ithacans and suitors ofBooks XIII through XXIV as a whole can be viewed as one continuous act of deception and persuasion. When the lone sojourner finally awakens once more upon his 59 home shores, having survived the anop1a ofthe sea and ofthe search for a vO encounters, the goddess Athena in disguise: ouo' 0 y' aA;llSEa £tn£, naA,lV 0' 0 y£ A,aS£'W ~DSov, / at£l EVl did not speak truths, and he held back the story, / always wielding the very shrewd mind in his breast.) Since the mighty Athena is ofdivine blood, however, she is omniscient, and so Odysseus' lies have no power over her; now that the two great schemers have finally united to celebrate the sojourner's long awaited homecoming, the goddess praises the mortal's use ofdeception: (Unyielding man ofvarious wiles, insatiable oftricks, though being in your land, you were not about to desist from your tricks and your guileful stories, which are dear to you from the ground up.... For another man who had wandered coming back would gladly be eager to see his children and his wife in his halls. But it is not at all pleasing to you to learn and to inquire until you have tested your wife, who sits in your halls, as before yours, and the nights, always miserable for her, pass away and the days with her shedding tears.) As Athena recognizes, Odysseus understands that now when lesser men would let down their guard and go running home, rejoicing, he must continue to depend upon the same 60 resources which have kept him alive thus far-his cunning mind, skillful hands, and persuasive tongue. Trusting in himselfalone for a bit longer, he must keep up this guise until he is certain that his island is free from the hold of all those who would not welcome 31 his voa'TO<; but instead try to defraud him ofhis rightful throne. In five instances in the latter halfofthe Odyssey, Ithaca's king fabricates a background for the mysterious beggar, the role he assumes to hide his true identity for this final leg ofhis great joumey.32 Each variation ofthe story holds its own special details, as Odysseus adapts his history to suit his given audience. For instance, the longest yam by far, the one developed with the most intricate detail, is delivered to Eumaeus, who beyond all others is distrustful oftravelers' tales, having taken sorely to false tidings of Odysseus-sightings in the past several years: h8po<; yap /-lol KElvo<; that one becomes hateful to me as the gates ofHades, / who yielding to poverty utters lying tales.) The swineherd has fortified himself so tightly with the thought that his dear master is no more that not even the smooth-speaking Odysseus can convince him otherwise; this is not truly a blow to the great orator's knack at persuasion, however, since not even oaths to the gods can convince Eumaeus otherwise. Moreover, every other aspect ofOdysseus' story is readily bought by the cautious swineherd, a tribute to his king's silver tongue, for, as Homer writes ofthe great orator after one ofhis many lies, 'laKE \lfEu8Ea nOAAa AEYWV £'tU/-l0l01V O/-lola (XIX.203). (Speaking many lies he made them like truths.) It is indeed ironic that one ofthe lone prominent truths ofthe 31 For more on Odysseus and Athena's council, see Clay 1983: 186-212. 32 The five episodes involve Athena (Book XIII), Eumaeus (Book XIV), Antinuous (Book XVII), Penelope (Book XIX), and Laertes (Book XXIV). 61 mysterious beggar's tale, the fact that Odysseus yet lives, is the only fact which Eumaeus does not believe. Perhaps the craftiest aspect ofOdysseus' storytelling is his incorporation of anopia into the various versions ofhis life story which he provides those characters who do not have a history offidelity with him, namely the unrecognized Athena and the gluttonous Antinous. In each ofthese variations, the beggar-king makes it a priority for the listener to know that he is in anopia, his heart troubled to find himselfnow on the foreign shores ofIthaca. To the disguised goddess Odysseus labels himself as aKaX~/lEVO<; hwp (being troubled in his heart) and to the suitor n~/la'Ta nacrxwv (suffering woes) (XIII.286, XVII.444). While the real Odysseus originally does find himselfin anopia upon landing once more on his home shores, he certainly is well on his way along a nopo<; out ofthis state. In choosing to create the character ofthe beggar in anopia to accompany the physical disguise Athena has supplied, Odysseus is able to lure his foes into a false sense ofsecurity, into the beliefthat they face some common old man who is preoccupied with finding a means ofmere survival. Thus in compelling Antinous and the other suitors to believe that he is merely a man in anopia, Odysseus actually shifts the anopia which once he feels onto the plates ofthese trespassers, yet unknowing, and so eases his own burden in liberating his island. The longer that Odysseus continues to play the roll ofthe old beggar, the more engrossed he becomes in his deceptive ways, slipping ever more easily into his lies. The very fact that Odysseus never crafts the same story twice is the most basic evidence that some sense ofpleasure derived from deception drives him to reshape his tales continuously. Further indication ofthis is the mere existence ofOdysseus' final tale; 62 when the great sojourner conjures up the story which he delivers to his father, he has already purged his island kingdom ofthe suitors and thus is certainly in less dire need of operating under a false identity. Odysseus has distanced himselfso greatly from the human bonds ofblood and fellowship through his use ofdeception that he feels it necessary to test his own father; however, the human within him quickly returns as he is only able to summon fourteen lines before compassion breaks him off, thus making this tale a much shorter one in length than the other four. Through the content ofhis fabricated stories, Odysseus reveals a level of discomfort with the loss ofidentity to which such deception leads. In midst of all his chosen variations, common threads run through at least the first four ofOdysseus' tales, and one ofthese is the presence ofdeception. In his depictions ofhimself, from lying in ambush as he waits to kill his victim to being tricked into slavery, Odysseus tends to include the use ofguile as a prominent point in his fictitious histories; this would seem to be the clever Ithacan's way ofhinting to his audience that all ofthis is a charade. Moreover, in nearly identical statements, the king, disguised as a beggar, declares to Eumaeus and Penelope alike that Odysseus is currently deciding how to return home: 'tOY 8' E<; ~w8wvllv (And he said that man had gone to Dodona, so that he might hear the counsel ofZeus from the divine, lofty and leafy oak tree, how he might return to the rich land ofIthaca, being away for a long time already, whether openly or secretly.) 33 The variation ofthis which Odysseus speaks to his wife is found at XIX.296-299. 63 The crafty master ofdeceit throws in his loved ones' faces the fact that Odysseus is considering the use of guile to return home, almost as if challenging them to connect the dots and make the realization that this mysterious beggar is in actuality their mighty king. These declarations to his swineherd and wife foreshadow the long desired moment when Odysseus is finally able to reveal himselffully; they intimate an inner desire in the sojourner to expose himselfto his beloved companions, to reassert his identity. In the end, the great orator likewise feels the need to reveal himselfto all ofthe deluded suitors before they meet their common end, with the exception ofthe greedy Antinous, who has already partaken ofan arrow from Odysseus' bow: cD KUVE<;, ou /l' '£'r' E (0 dogs, you did not think that I would still come home, returning from the land ofthe Trojans, since you ravaged my home and lay with my servant women by force and courted my wife while I myselflived, neither fearing the gods, who hold the wide heavens, nor that there would be any righteous indignation among men afterward. Now the ropes ofdeath have been fastened about all ofyou too.) Odysseus, proud as he is, is certainly keen on ensuring that the suitors know what warrior is about to send them to their deaths as he removes the mask created by this nameless beggar. A very similar sentiment is expressed in Odysseus' words as he bids the Cyclops Polyphemus farewell from his ship slipping away into the sea: 35 34 With his powerful words, the returned king reduces these trespassers to mere animals (KUVEC;) as he prepares to drive them into anopia by the skill ofhis hands. 35 For more on Odysseus' loss ofidentity generated by assuming the name nunC;, see Rhinon 2007: 322 324. 64 K UKA-U)\jf, a'l KEv 'T1<; OT Ka'Ta8vTj'TcDV av8pcDnwv o (Cyclops, if ever anyone among mortal men asks you about the grievous blinding ofyour eye, tell him that Odysseus, the sacker ofcities, blinded you, the son ofLaertes, holding his home in Ithaca.) Odysseus' obsession with reaffirming his human identity in both ofthese scenes is directly linked to his rightful concern with his and his companions' ability to remain human, rather than bestial, both in form and in nature in the episodes with Polyphemus and Circe. As we have previously seen, the crafty Achaean's 'Tf:xVTj, which so often allows him to create a nopo<; out ofanoP1a, also helps him to reaffirm his identity as a human, for it is 'TEXVTj itselfwhich separates man from beast. In contrast, while this gifted speaker's use oforal persuasion may help him to reduce his opponents to animal states, to drive them into anoP1a, Odysseus' reliance on disguise and deception, particularly in dealing with Polyphemus and the suitors, also strips him ofhis unique, human identity and, thus, seems to make him feel the need to reassert this lost identity once he has devised his nopo<; and left anopia behind, for, as we are reminded time and again throughout the course ofthe Odyssey, all ofthese trials are endured for the sake of reclaiming his own life, his own identity. 65 Chapter Five: The'Anopia ofLife For much-traveled Odysseus, bent on finding his vo(no~, the opportunity repeatedly arises to follow instead another nopo~, one not leading him home, but rather detaining him in some foreign land. In the actual chronology ofOdysseus' tale, the first time that the much-traveled man finds himselfat such a crossroads is in the encounter with the lotus-eaters. Although not constituting more than twenty-five lines ofthe actual poem, these peaceful people represent a very important force in the Odyssey, the complacency which counteracts one's desire for a V00'TO~: 'TWV 0' o~ 'Tl~ A.UH010 (And whoever ofthem ate the honey-sweet fruit ofthe lotus, no longer did he desire to report back and to return home, but they wished to remain there among the men ofthe lotus-eaters, eating the lotus and to forget about their return home.) Unlike his scouts, Odysseus does not eat ofthe lotus, and thus does not fall prey to its powerful control; however, the lure ofa pleasant alternative to the harsh realities of finding a V00'TO~, most purely presented in the form ofthe fruit ofthe lotus, resurfaces numerous times throughout the Ithacans' travels, and in future instances, their king reveals a certain desire to take up this path ofease and at least temporarily forget about his island home. Odysseus' own three lotuses come in the form ofthe three divine, or at least semi-divine, ladies who hope to lure the tired sojourner away from his wife and home and keep him for themselves, Circe, Calypso, and Nausicaa. In opposition to the nopo~ ofa mortal man returning home to Ithaca, one guaranteed to be replete with 66 anopia, the nopo<; ofdivine life blessedly free ofanopia thus arises for Odysseus. These conflicting nopol drive Odysseus into the anopia ofchoosing a path in life, the same sort ofanopia which Achilles faces in the Iliad or Heracles in Prodicus' llu80<;. Throughout the course ofthe Odyssey, the wanderer gradually comes to terms with this anopia as, driven by a concern for maintaining his unique human identity, he becomes increasingly determined to secure his VO()'To<;. In the actual timeline of Odysseus' wanderings, the first ofthese tempting women whom he encounters is the enchantress Circe. When the Ithacans first catch sight ofthe goddess' palace, Homer includes a description ofits grandeur which foreshadows its appeal to the wearied Odysseus: £uPOll£V EV ~~()()1J()l 'T£TuYllEva bWlla'Ta Katva / S£O"'T01()1V tvcX£()()l, n£pl0KEn'T beautiful house, fashioned from smoothed stones, in a clear space.) Within this beautiful abode is an equally charming goddess who presents herselfto Odysseus as an alternative to his dear wife and an escape from the memories ofthe horrors which he has confronted since his departure from Troy and war.36 Moreover, through Odysseus' mention ofher unending supply offood, Homer reminds us that the goddess possesses the gift of eternal life: atHol b' Cl'Tpuv£()8£ EllOl alla ncXv'T£<; En£O"8at, o (And all ofyou rouse yourselves to follow me, so that you may see your companions in the holy house ofCirce drinking and eating, for they hold it in never-failing abundance.) Worn ragged by his toils, Odysseus quickly consents to Circe's capturing words: 36 As seen in X.460-463 below, by claiming that her food will restore Odysseus' spirit to a state in which it has not been since he left Ithaca, Circe establishes a direct comparison between Ithaca and her island home, in essence offering a life with her to take the place ofOdysseus' former life among mortals. 67 aAA' ay£'t' £081£'t£ ~PW/l11V Kat TC1 V£'t£ OlvOV, £1<; 0 K£V aun<; 8u/loV £Vt 0't~8£0(Jl Aa~11't£, o\ov o't£ TCpwn0'tov £A£lTC£'t£ TCa'tp18a yalav 'tp11 X£l11<; 'r8aK11<;. vuv 8' a0K£AE£<; Kat a8U/lOl, alEv aA11<; xaA£TCll<; /l£/lV11/lEVOl, OU8E TC08' D/llV 8u/l0<; £V £u ("But come eat food and drink wine, until you again recover the spirit in your breasts, just as when you first left behind your fatherland ofrugged Ithaca. But now you are worn-out and spiritless, always remembering the difficult wandering, and your spirit is never in a state ofhappiness, since you have suffered very many things." Thus she spoke, and our manly spirit yielded to persuasion. Then all the days for a complete year we sat feasting on innumerable meats and sweet wine.) From the very opening ofthe Odyssey, we should never forget that it is the story of a man who struggles without end to find his VO()'to<;, who wants nothing more than to find himselfsafely at home in Ithaca with his wife and son: apvu/l£vo<; llv 't£ \jfUXT)V Kat V00'tOV £'ta1pwv (1.5). (Winning his life and the return home ofhis companions.) Thus, it is difficult to imagine that at this moment, tired though he is from his many woes, Odysseus has completely forgotten his homecoming. The text lends support for this argument through Homer's employment of£TCl7t£18w (persuade); its use here indicates a need for Circe to employ persuasion on Odysseus, namely that he is uncertain which path he should take, sitting deeply in aTCop1a. His tired heart easily won over by the charming Circe, Odysseus spends a year in the palace ofthe enchantress, yet after so long a time has passed, his companions, restless, voice their desire to seek their home once more: aAA' o't£ 8~ p' £vlau'to<; E11V, TC£Pt 8' E'tpaTCov wpm /l11VWV 68 Kat 'to'tE /.1' EKKaAE0aV'tE~ £ (But when it had been a year, and the seasons had come full circle, the months passing by, and the long days had come back, then also my faithful companions calling me said, "Possessed man, remember already now your father land, ifit is ordained by a god for you to be saved and to return to your lofty home and to your fatherland." Thus they spoke, and my manly spirit yielded to persuasion. In this passage we see an exact mirror ofthe last three words ofline 468: EnE1CEl8E'tO 8tl/.10~ ay~vwp. (My manly spirit yielded to persuasion.) Once more, Odysseus' heart requires persuasion to move him to change the path on which he travels. This second use ofEnlTCEl8w makes even more apparent Odysseus' anOPla as to what course in life he should take. In stark contrast to the Odysseus who is eternally bent on doing whatever it takes to bring himselfback to Ithaca, as we see throughout much ofthe rest ofhis journey, here we observe an Odysseus who has slipped peacefully into the respite which the lovely Circe offers, an Odysseus who only brings it upon himselfto resume his journey home once his companions have strongly urged him to do SO.37 Temporarily neglecting Odysseus' encounter with Calypso, let us tum to the final ofOdysseus' three lotuses, Nausicaa. In contrast to the anOPla which Odysseus faces when deciding ifhe should stay with Circe or continue home, there is a marked absence ofanOPla when Alcinous and his daughter present Odysseus with the opportunity to live among the Phaeacians. While Nausicaa is not considered a goddess, and so it is not completely fair to place her and Circe on the same scale, Homer certainly paints a rather 37 Even though Odysseus is convinced by his fellow Ithacans to leave behind the island ofCirce, as we will see below, he has certainly not freed himself from the aTCopia ofmaking such a life decision, aTCopia ofthe sort that consumes Achilles in the Iliad. 69 divine image ofthe maiden and thus seems to invite a comparison ofthe two situations. First, divine blood flows through her veins; by her paternal grandfather, Nausicaa is a descendant ofmighty Poseidon. Furthermore, Athena calls the Phaeacian kings 8101P£ £1 8' apa nc; Kat /louvoc; 1cDv SU/l~A 111al 081111C;, oD n Ka1aKpun10uCHv, £n£l cr (But also ifone going alone as a journeyer encounters them, they do not at all cover themselves up, since we are near to them, as are the Cyclopes and the wild races ofthe Giants.) Moreover, Homer himselfdescribes Nausicaa as having god-like beauty:39 ... NauCHKaa 8E S£eDV ano KaAAoc; Exoucra (VInA57). (...And Nausicaa having beauty from the gods.) This is not the only instance in which Homer directly compares Nausicaa to the gods; in a passage explored in the previous chapter, Homer likens the playful Nausicaa and her fellow maidens to Artemis and her nymphs: nacrawv 8' {mEp ~ y£ Kap11 EX£l n8E /lE1Wna, pEla l' aptYVW111 n£A£1al, KaAat 8£ 1£ nacral· WC; ~ y' a/l (And above all [Artemis] holds her head and her brow And is easily recognized, but all are beautiful. Thus, the unmarried maiden stood out among her handmaids.) Just as the maiden goddess Artemis far surpasses the nymphs in beauty and grace, so the princess outshines her companions. 38 While this common epithet should not be taken too literally, it certainly adds to the weight ofthe other descriptions ofNausicaa and the Phaeacians. 39 At the opening ofBook VII, Homer similarly likens both A1cinous and his sons to the immortal gods (VII.5, 11). 70 Although Nausicaa cannot offer Odysseus the gift ofeverlasting life which Calypso does, her beauty is comparable, and, still a maiden, she surely offers Odysseus more youthful years than does his own wife. Through the comparisons to the immortal goddesses, Horner sets the sweet enticement of a life with Nausicaa at essentially the same level as one with Circe or Calypso. Even ifit is undoubtedly part ofhis rhetoric, Odysseus himselfraises Nausicaa to a godlike state, first in questioning whether she is a goddess upon meeting her and secondly in vowing to pray to her as goddess: 'T0 KEV 'TOt (VIII.467-468). (Therefore, I will pray to you too as to a god / always for all ofmy days, for you gave me life, maiden.) Like Odysseus' other two lotuses, Nausicaa is actually capable ofproviding Odysseus with the gift oflife. In his descriptions ofKing Alcinous' palace and estate Horner depicts the sort of carefree, paradisiacal life that Nausicaa has to offer Odysseus. Just as the poet includes descriptions ofthe pleasing grandeur ofCirce's palace, he goes into far greater detail in similarly portraying the palace ofKing Alcinous: WC; 'T£ yap ~£A-lO'U a'iYA-Tj nEA-£V ~E 0£A-~VTjC; 8wIla Kae' l.HJ!£p£ 71 (For as ofthe sun or moon there was a radiance down upon the lofty house of great-hearted Alcinous. For the walls were bronze, driven out here and there, to the innermost part from the threshold, and around them a frieze ofenamel. And golden doors bound the closely constructed house within, and silver doorposts stood on the bronze threshold. And the lintel upon it was silver, and the handle gold. And there were gold and silver dogs on either side, which Hephaestus made with his knowing mind to guard the house ofgreat-hearted Alicinous, being deathless and ageless all their days. And inside were chairs around the wall leaned against it here and there to the innermost part from the threshold without gaps, on which light, finely spun cloths were thrown, the work ofthe women. And there the leaders ofthe Phaeacians sat drinking and eating, for they held it in never-failing abundance.) Shining with gold and silver, the palace ofAlcinous in all its splendor is given a description befitting the abodes ofthe gods themselves; yet pure beauty aside, there are further links to the immortal world. First, Homer includes a detailed description ofthe dog statues crafted by Hephaestus. Such a gift from the blacksmith god himselfwarrants attention on its own; however, what is ofgreater interest is the adjective used to describe the dogs, u8ava1:0'Uc; ("immortal, deathless,,).4o Similarly, in a nearly identical line to the one describing Circe's endless supply offood, that sustenance necessary for maintaining life, the use ofE11:11£1:a'tVov ("never failing, always available"), adds to the sense of a deathless palace, an image mirrored in Homer's portrayal ofthe paradisiacal gardens surrounding it: EK1:0 40 Similarly, active verbs E£PYOV (bound) and E(J't(X 72 XEl~CC'COC; OVb£ eEpEUC;, £nE1:r1GlOC;· cl'A"Aa ~a"A' atEl ZE (And outside the courtyard there was a great orchard near the doors consisting offour measures, and a fence was driven around it on both sides. And tall, flourishing trees grew there, pear trees and pomegranate trees and apple trees bearing fine fruit and sweet fig trees and olive trees flourishing. The fruit ofthese never dies or leaves in the winter or summer, coming on all through the year, but the West Wind, always blowing, causes these to grow and ripens others.) The description ofthis lush garden gives it the appearance of an earthly paradise, indicating its immortal ties with its constantly available fruit. Homer brings to a conclusion his description ofthe many sights at which Odysseus gazes with one final reference to the gods: 1:01' up' £V 'A"AKtVOOlO eEWV £Gav ay"Aaa bwpa (VII.132). (These were the splendid gifts ofthe gods in the home ofAlcinous.) Though greatly varied are the immortals' gifts, the greatest ofthese is the gift oflife, abundant and youthful life, and this is the gift with which they have blest Antinous and his family.41 Thus confronted with the god-like beauty ofNausicaa in her paradise ofa home, particularly after his treacherous and fatiguing journey across the sea, we might expect Odysseus to engage himselfin another affair, for the Phaeacian princess herself admits to desiring to wed a man like Odysseus; however, this is a changed Odysseus. Despite the maiden's desires and her father's offers, the lone Ithacan does not noticeably hesitate for even an instant in deciding whether to continue home or take up a place among the Phaeacians. For once, there is no anOPla, yet because ofthe numerous associations which Homer develops between Nausicaa and the immortal gods, resolution of Odysseus' anOPla does not result from less appealing attributes on her part, but rather from a 41 For more on the notion ofPhaeacia as a fantasy world, see Segal 1962. 73 change in his evaluation oflife. This realization in fact flows from Odysseus' confrontation with his second lotus, the beautiful Calypso. Because ofour initial glimpse of Odysseus at the beginning ofBook V, sitting alone and mourning on the far Ogygian seashore, it is difficult not to declare simply that, as with Nausicaa, the Ithacan king feels absolutely no a7tOpta here. ~ 8' E7t' '08uaa~a /lEyaA.TrWpa 7tOWla VUWPTl n'1', E7tEt 8~ ZTlVOC; E7tEKA.l.lEV aYYEA.UX;WV. 'tOY 8' up' E7t' aK't~C; Et.lPE Kae~/lfVOV' OU8E 7to't' oaaE 8aKpuo (And the lady nymph went to great-hearted Odysseus, when she heard the messages ofZeus. And him she found sitting down upon the shore. But his eyes were never dry from tears, and his sweet life was passing away as he mourned his return home, since the nymph no longer pleased him.) While the man clearly longs for his wife and his home whole-heartedly at this point in the tale, one important word in the final line ofthis passage, OUKEH (no longer), catches our attention. The line does not say that Calypso does not please him, but that Calypso no longer pleases him, thus directly implying that there was once a time when the nymph did, and this thought creates room for a7tOpta. As in the encounter with Circe, it is quite unlikely that Odysseus ever completely forsakes his desire for a voa'toc;; rather, overcome by fatigue from his rough voyage back from Charybdis and grieffrom the loss ofthe last ofhis companions, Odysseus finds Calypso's proposal ofa carefree life quite attractive. These two desires-to hang on to his love for his wife and his own home on one hand and to embrace fully the lotus-like forgetfulness with which Calypso presents him-are the mark ofa very familiar a7tOpta. 74 Calypso's offers are great; she, even more the other two lotuses who attempt to erase the memory ofhome from Odysseus' mind, is perfectly forward about the gift she offers him, immortality: i1 yE IlEV E10ElTle; CJ~(H (Ifyou should know in your heart how many troubles it is your lot to fulfill before seeing your fatherland, then remaining here with me you would tend this house and be deathless, though desiring to see your wife for whom you always long all the days.) This land, which an immortal Odysseus would inhabit with Calypso is, like that ofCirce or Nausicaa, an undying paradise on earth:42 UA-Tl O£ CJ1t£Oe; all (And around the cave a flourishing forest grew, alder and poplar and sweet-smelling cypress. And there long-winged birds slept, owls and falcons and loud-crying birds ofthe sea, to whom the matters ofthe sea are a concern. And a young vine stretched out there around the hollow cave, and flourished with its bunches of grapes. And four springs in a row flowed with shining water, near each other, directing their course in one direction or another. 42 For a comparison ofCalypso's grove and Alcinous' garden, see Austin 1975: 154-155. 75 And around them soft meadows teemed with violets and water-parsley. If one should go there, even though being immortal, he would be in wonder, looking at it, and be pleased in his heart.) The forest around Calypso's cave is abundant with life ofall kinds; in fact, its beauty and grandeur are so great that they cause even the immortal gods to wonder at this flourishing As sweet as Calypso's offer to Odysseus is, to live forever in paradise, a life not dissimilar to the one which Vice promises Heracles in Prodicus' tale about the young man in anopia, Odysseus, like Heracles, cannot accept it: nowa S£a, !In !l0l 'T08£ XW£o' 018a Kal atHOe; nav'Ta !laA,', ovv£Ka 0£tO n£pl (Lady goddess, do not be angry at me for this; even I myselfknow all these things, that wise Penelope is ofless account than you to look at face to face in form and stature. For she is mortal, but you are immortal and ageless. But even so I wish and desire all my days to go homeward and to see my day ofreturn. But ifone ofthe gods smites me in the wine-dark sea, I will endure, having in my breast a trouble-bearing spirit. For already I suffered very many things and endured many things in waves and in the war, and let this come to be among these.) Odysseus' extended exposure to the divine life which Calypso has to offer has gradually delivered him from anopia as the wanderer has firmly decided that this life is not for him. In this choice to forsake blessed immortality for the uncertainties ofmortal life, 43 As Vernant (1996: 186) notes, the meadow about Calypso's cave is reminiscent ofthe meadow in which the Sirens sing to wearied travelers. This is appropriate given Calypso's Siren-like attempts at convincing Odysseus to forget his homeland and stay forever with her. 76 Penelope is only one factor in Odysseus' final decision; he is the first to admit that Calypso surpasses her both in beauty and in grace. Though dwelling in an eternal paradise, Odysseus cannot forget his old life among mortals, back in Ithaca. In forsaking immortality and facing the sea, the great body ofanopia, Odysseus reintroduces not only woes and toils into his life, but also anopia, as we see in the rest of Book V; in fact, this is the very cost ofchoosing a mortal life, as indicated by the gods' ways ofdealing with anopia. The greatest example ofthe gods in anopia in the Odyssey is presented by the Phaeacian bard Demodocus as he sings ofthe exposed mischiefof Aphrodite and Ares. Having suspected his wife's infidelity, the crafty Hephaestus is able to catch her and her lover in bed: ... all (...And about them the skillfully fashioned bonds ofingenious Hephaestus poured down. And they were not at all able to move or raise up their limbs. And then they knew that no longer was there a means ofescape.) From the numerous similar situations in which Odysseus finds himselfthroughout the course ofthe epic, we have come to recognize the anopia which the trapped characters ought to feel, incapable offinding the nopoe; out oftheir captivity. To the other gods who come as spectators, however, this is nothing more than a joke: 'EpllllV oE npoCJE£1TI:£V ava~ L\10e; 'U1oe; 'AnoA,A,CDv' 'Epll£ia, L\10e; 'U1E, 010:K'TOP£, OW'TOp EO:CDV, ~ pO: K£V EV O£CJIlOle; E8EA,01e; Kpa'T£polCJl nl£CJ8£1e; £VO£1v EV A,EK'TP01CJl napa XP'UCJElJ 'Apooi'TlJ; 'TOV 0' ~1l£i~£'T' £n£aa 010:K'TOpOe; 'ApYEi 77 (And King Apollo, the son ofZeus, addressed Hermes, "Hermes, son ofZeus, guide, bestower ofblessings, would you truly want to sleep in bed beside golden Aphrodite, pressed by mighty bonds?" And then the guide, the slayer ofArgus, replied to him, "0 that this might happen, king Apollo, far-shooter: let three times as many inextricable bonds hold us together, and you, the gods, looking on and all the goddesses, but let me sleep beside golden Aphrodite.") Hermes, encouraged by his brother Apollo, even goes so far as to declare that it would be well worth it to find himself in what ought to be a:n:oplcx ofa degree comparable to that which Odysseus faces throughout the entirety ofthe epic. This aTCopicx does not plague Aphrodite and her lover long, however, for Poseidon convinces the injured Hephaestus that it is not seemly for them to be treated thus: 'tOY 8' CXU'tE TCPO (And Poseidon, the lord ofearthquakes, addressed him in return, "Hephaestus, even ifAres, shunning his debt, goes away, fleeing, I myselfwill pay these things." And then the famed, crooked-limbed one answered him, "It is neither possible nor fitting for me to decline your word." Speaking thus, the might ofHephaestus loosened the bonds. And when they were freed from the bonds, though being mighty, springing up immediately, he went to Thrace, and ever-smiling Aphrodite came to Cyprus, to Paphos. And there are her sacred sanctuary and altar, fragrant from sacrifice, 78 and there the Graces washed her and anointed her with divine olive oil, ofthe kind that anoints the skin ofthe ever-being gods, and placed fair clothes about her, a wonder to be seen.) Without any effort whatsoever on their part, Aphrodite and Ares find themselves free of the apparent anopia which previously binds them. In fact, the tone ofthis passage creates the sense that Aphrodite is almost rewarded in return; as soon as Hephaestus releases her, the goddess oflove is certain to dart down to Cyprus where she can be adorned by the Graces. For trespasses of so serious a nature, whether it is Odysseus scorning the one-eyed son ofPoseidon or the suitors stealing from a living man's pocket, the mortals ofthe Odyssey earn severe punishment, even death; we are constantly reminded throughout the poem ofthe grim fate Aegisthus brings upon himselffor killing Agamemnon and seducing his wife. For the gods, however, anopia is not a reality; from the jovial jests ofApollo and Hermes to the quickly forgotten anxiety ofthe ensnared Aphrodite, ifever it existed, it is quite clear that the immortals do not take the notion of anopia seriously, for they are free to break the basic rules which bind mankind, just as they can escape the hold of a finely-wrought net.44 One ofthe greatest examples ofthe difference between gods and men's management ofanOPla lies in the confronting ofthe sea, the physical representation of anOPla itself. When Zeus sends Hermes offto Ogygia to deliver the message to Calypso that her captive is to be released, it is as simple for him as strapping on his magical sandals and coasting through the open sky: a1HlK' £n£1S' uno n000tV fO~0a'w KaA-cX nEolA-a, a/l~p60la xpu0£1a, 1:0: /llY 44 For more on the affair ofAres and Aphrodite, see Zeitlin 1995: 128-134. 79 WV ES£A,£1, 'lOUe; b' au'l£ Kal unvcDov'lae; Ey£lp£1. 'l~V /lHa X£P (Immediately then he bound on his feet his sandals, beautiful, divine, golden, which carried him over both the sea and the boundless earth with the breath ofthe wind. And he took hold ofhis rod, with which he charms the eyes ofmen, whom he chooses, and on the other hand awakens those sleeping. Holding this in his hands the mighty slayer ofArgus flew. And setting foot upon Pieria from the ether, he fell towards the sea and then hastened along upon the waves, like a sea-bird, which along the dreadful folds ofthe unharvested sea catching fish wets his full wings in the salt water. Like this Hermes was borne across the many waves.) Speeding along above the treacherous sea, Hermes is able to make the same journey which robs Odysseus ofprecious weeks and all ofhis might in the blink ofan eye. Taking the sea as the physical representation ofanopia, Hermes is literally able to avoid this anopla in his gentle course through the sky. Odysseus, on the other hand, Zeus has already deemed must struggle throughout this trek across the deadly sea: 'Ep/l£la, (Hermes-for you are the messenger in other matters tell my unerring will to the fair-tressed nymph, the return home of stout-hearted Odysseus, that he may go home by the guidance ofneither gods nor mortal men, but that enduring miseries upon his much-bound raft on the twentieth day he may come to fertile Scheria, to the land ofthe Phaeacians, who are close to the gods.) 80 Odysseus must suffer the full force ofthese earthly woes, and as he sinks into aTCoplO'., he is forced to create his own TCOPO<;, unguided by either man or god. In forsaking immortality and accepting the aTCoplO'. ofhuman life, Odysseus must pay penalties besides his own death, for death itselfis but one example ofan inescapable aTCoplO'., the ultimate one though it may be. The most fully developed example ofman's inability to avoid certain aTCoplO'., the price ofchoosing mortality, in the Odyssey is Odysseus' encounter with Scylla and Charybdis. When advising Odysseus about the best route home, even Circe cannot tell the wearied traveler ofpath he can take to reach Ithaca unscathed: O'.-lYl;UP ETCllV o~ 'ta<; yE TCO'.PE~ EA-a (But when your companions drive past them, then after that I will no longer tell you in detail which ofthese two will be your path, but you yourselftum them over in your spirit. But I will tell you about both ofthem. For on one side there are overhanging rocks, and against them the great wave ofdark-eyed Amphitrite dashes in uproar. ... Only that ship sailed past there, cleaving the seas, 81 the Argo, a concern to all, sailing from the house ofAeetes.... But there, Scylla lives in it, emitting a terrible, sharp cry.... And never do sailors boast that unharmed by her they have safely passed that point with their ship, but she carries away a man with each head, snatching him out oftheir blue-prowed ship, .... But under it shining Charybdis swallows down the black water. For three times during the day it sends it up and three times swallows it down dreadfully. May you not happen upon there when it swallows down, for one could not save from the evil, not even the lord ofearthquakes. But coming very near the crag ofScylla, swiftly drive your ship past it, since it is much better to miss six companions on your ship than all ofthem together.) In navigating a route home through the sea, through anopia, Odysseus is forced to choose his own napoc; from the many possibilities, none ofwhich comes without a price. Circe emphasizes mankind's inability to escape this anopia by declaring that no one has ever passed by either Scylla or Charybdis unscathed; similarly, only Jason, aided by Hera's divine might, has been able to pass through the Amphitrites unharmed. Circe's final advice to Odysseus is to give in to the anopia offinding the perfect path, to cut his losses and suffer the death ofonly six men, rather than the loss ofhis whole ship. While Odysseus first argues with Circe, refusing to believe that he cannot save all ofhis men, once he is back in the mortal world he learns all too quickly that just as in sailing through life as a whole, sailing through the sea in search ofIthaca implies that there are certain horrors which are unavoidable: O'{K'l10'lOV 8~ KElvo EllolC; '{80v o 82 The stark reality ofthis knowledge thus begs the question why does Odysseus, formerly in anopia, once and for all choose the nopo~ ofpassing up immortality for the troubles ofmortal life. To answer this, I turn to my conclusions in the previous two chapters: In confronting the anopla offinding a V00'TO~, Odysseus reveals his ultimate determination to maintain his own human identity. A similar exaltation ofthe importance ofhuman life can be found in the words ofAchilles, the very image ofa man caught in the anopla oflife, whose shade Odysseus meets in his journey to the underworld. Just as Odysseus speaks of all the troubles he has faced in his long wandering, so Achilles reflects on the nopo~ which he was destined to choose on the barren shores ofTroy: OU yap nw 0XE8av ~A80v 'Axal180~, OU8E nw a~~~ y~~ EnESllv, aAA' alEv ExW KaKa. 0Elo 8', 'AX1AAEU, OU 'Tl~ av~p nponapo18E ~aKap'Ta'TO~ OU'T' up' (ml00w. nptv ~EV yap 0E C,wav E'TlO~EV t0a 8£0101v ,ApYElOl, VUV alJ1E ~£ya Kpa'TEEl~ VEKUE001v Ev8a8' EWV· 'T0 ~~ 'Tl 8avwv aKaxic,E'U, 'AX1AAEU. w~ E ("For not yet have I come near Achaea nor yet set foot upon our land, but always I have evils. But more than you, Achilles, neither was there any man before most blessed, nor will there be one in the future. For before we honored you while living equally with the gods, we, the Argives, and now in tum you rule among the dead, being here. Therefore, do not at all grieve that you are dead, Achilles." Thus I spoke, and immediately replying, he answered me: "Do not gloss over death for me, glorious Odysseus. I would prefer to serve as a hired laborer to another, a man having no land to whom there is not much ofa livelihood, rather than to rule over all the perished dead.") In the matter ofthis life-changing anopla, Odysseus' choice is not Achilles'. Having in effect backed into choosing the prospect ofglory over a long life, Achilles succeeds in 83 winning for himselfthat glory but also an early death, and here he expresses nothing but regret for this. Praised as a god as he was and, as a shade, still is, Achilles does not believe that the life he lost was worth the cost ofundying fame; for even the lowliest mortal life, he would renounce his divine glory and rule among the dead. This sentiment which Achilles could not appreciate until he passed into the world ofthe dead is the same philosophy behind Odysseus' apparent madness: The tired sojourner's willingness time and again to renounce eternal life in paradise comes primarily from his unwillingness to throwaway his life and all that he has come to know and love, even ifthis life is a mortal, imperfect one. Just as Odysseus refuses to allow his comrades to revert to mere beasts in the cave ofPolyphemus or ensures that the befuddled suitors learn his true identity before they meet their deaths, just so he will not let the splendid vision ofimmortality cloud his memory ofhome, destroy his very identity.45 Ifchoosing human life means enduring woes and falling into anopia, some ofit inescapable, so be it, for it is this, the anopia, the very mark ofhuman life, and, moreover, the ways he chooses to respond to it which define Odysseus.46 45 For more on Odysseus' struggle to maintain his personal identity, see Taylor 1965. 46 As Dimock (1965: 72) argues, Odysseus' unique identity is shaped by the many pains he endures: "In exposing Odysseus to Poseidon, in allowing him to do and suffer, Zeus is odysseusing Odysseus, giving him his identity. In accepting the implications ofhis name, Trouble, Odysseus establishes his identity in harmony with the nature ofthings. In the ultimate sense he is "Zeus-sprung," one whose existence is rooted in life itself." 84 Chapter Six: The IIOPOl ofLife Choosing a mortal life once and for all on the shores ofOgygia, Odysseus returns to Ithaca well prepared to deal with the anopia he is destined to face. Ithaca's lost king has demonstrated time and again that he has the deftness ofhand that will enable him to string his long-untouched bow and the persuasive rhetoric to procure safety for himselfin hostile lands and lure his foes into a false sense ofsecurity. His quick and inventive mind is, as ever, capable ofcontriving a plan to deal with any humanly negotiable obstacle, and the years ofwandering leading up to his stay with Calypso have taught him a patience and wisdom which formerly he lacked in confronting the Cyclops Polyphemus.47 These practical skills are essential to Odysseus' ability to survive the mortal world and to deliver himselffrom anopia; still more important, however, is that Odysseus' very use of them is guided by the sensitivity to the universal condition ofmortality shared by all humans which arises from the lone wanderer's deliberate embrace of a mortal life. In returning to fifth-century Athens, where our study ofanopia began, we see Sophocles play with the role ofmorality in Odysseus' attempts to escape anopia in two ofhis tragedies, in both ofwhich the Ithacan king in many ways embodies the potentials ofsophism. In the Ajax, despite seeming a less commanding character than in Homer's epics, Odysseus, empowered by the same understanding ofwhat it is to be mortal and by a corresponding sensitivity to other humans, successfully delivers the Achaeans from anopia and exhibits what the sophists represented when at their best. On the other hand, 47 The foolish taunts Odysseus throws back at Polyphemus as he cuts his way out to sea at the end ofBook IX set the wrath ofPoseidon against him and thus lead to many ofhis misfortunes until his arrival in Phaeacia. The lone sojourner reveals his newly learned patience in the second halfofthe Odyssey by not similarly revealing himselfto the suitors until he is fully prepared to eliminate them. 85 in the Phi/oetetes, Odysseus, willing to do whatever is necessary to reach his desired end regardless ofhis actions' implications, drives himselfand others into anoP1a by the play's close and reveals what the sophists represented when at their worst. From the very opening ofthe Odyssey, Homer reveals Odysseus' deep concern for his fellow humans: aPVD/l£VO~ llV 1£ \jfUXflV Kat VOCHOV E1alpwv (1.5). (Winning his life and the return home ofhis companions.) The poet emphasizes that the Ithacan king's primary goal in the Odyssey is to secure a vocr'w~ not only for himselfbut also for his companions. Odysseus himself reveals this concern for his men in the episode with Circe when he refuses to give into the goddess's woos, tired though he is, until she has restored his fellow Ithacans to their human forms. In fact, Odysseus states that the most wretched (0'1 Kncr10~) experience ofall his many travels is the loss ofsix ofhis men to the E/lOYllcra nopou~ aA.o~ ES£P££lvwv (XII.258-259). (That indeed was the most pitiable thing ofall that I saw with my eyes, / as many as were the things I suffered, traversing the paths ofthe sea.) Of all the anoP1a which Odysseus faces along the journey home, he recognizes this as the most piteous, since here he can find no way to prevent the loss ofat least a few ofhis companions.48 Through the course ofthe Odyssey, Odysseus, at times by necessity, at times by choice, uses other humans to reach his desired end, a VOcr10~. Among these is Nausicaa, whom Odysseus deceives in order to obtain a safe welcome in her father's court. Nevertheless, Odysseus does nothing which actually harms the Phaeacian princess other than failing to fulfill the maiden's dreams ofmarriage. In fact, Odysseus even lies to 48 In the second halfofthe Odyssey we see an even more sensitive side to Odysseus in his interactions with Penelope, Telemachus, and Eumaeus, who declares that he would rather call his master n8£10<; (honored) even in his absence rather than his actual name. 86 Antinous to prevent his further censure ofhis daughter when he learns that Nausicaa did not take the Ithacan straight to their palace. Similarly, although Odysseus chooses to deceive his father in Book XXIV, justifying his actions by the claim that his Laertes' loyalty must first be tested, he is then so moved out ofcompassion for his bereft father that he almost immediately drops the charade. As for the treatment ofthe suitors, admittedly Odysseus is not forgiving; despite their final pleas for mercy, Ithaca's king slaughters them once his trap has been laid. However, Athena, who as a goddess is a guardian ofdivine law, asserts at the very opening ofthe Odyssey that such evil men deserve an evil doom: (J) na'n:p n~£'n:pE KpoVlbll, Una1:E KpElOVnDV, Kat A,ll1V KElvo~ yE £olKon KEl1:at oA,£8pur w~ (0 our father, son ofCronus, highest ofthe lord, That one too lies in a very fitting death. May whoever else does such things be destroyed thus too.) With their unconcerned waste ofanother man's estate, the suitors are certainly ofthe same make as Aegisthus. Moreover, Odysseus does not begin to undertake their destruction until after he has received Zeus' approval revealed through a crack ofthunder and the prayer of a faithful servant: ...xa1pEv bE KA,EllbOVl 5l0~ 'Ob'\)crcrED~ / Zl1VO~ 1:E ~POV1:D' who have been loyal to him. In the midst ofhis dealings with the suitors lies the greatest example ofOdysseus' awareness ofthe universal binds ofmortality upon mankind. In return for the kindness 87 which the suitor Amphinomus shows the disguised Odysseus, he overlooks Amphinomus' trespass and forewarns him ofthe strife that is to come, urging him to take an early exit: OUOEV aKlOVO'"Cl::Pov yala 1:Pf (Ofall the things that breathe and move upon the earth, the earth bears nothing ofless account than man. For he does not think that he will ever suffer evil in the future, so long as the gods grant him prospertity and his knees urge him on. But when the blessed gods bring about woes too, these too he bears, yielding to necessity, with an enduring spirit. For such is the mind ofmen dwelling upon the earth as is the day the father ofmen and gods leads upon them. For I too was once going to be blessed among men, and I did many careless things yielding to force and might, trusting in my father and my brothers. Therefore, let no man be altogether lawless, but let him hold in silence his gifts from the gods, whatever they may give. I see the suitors devising such reckless deeds, consuming the possesions and disrepecting the wife ofa man, who I think will not long be away from his friends and his fatherland. But he is very near. But may some divinity take you away in safety to home, nor may you encounter that one 88 when he returns home to his dear fartherland. For I think that not without bloodshed will the suitors and that one decide the issue, when he makes his way into his hall.) In Odysseus' counsel that Amphinomus leave behind the halls ofIthaca's king, he captures his view on mortality; in many ways it is merely a product ofthe absolute love ofmortal life and the unwillingness to forget his human identity which Odysseus develops over the course ofhis journey. This much-traveled man unites all ofmankind in the common knowledge that all mortals are bound to the same fate, the same uncertainty, the same anOpta, and embracing this common bond, Odysseus is able to reach out from the depths ofhis heart and feel compassion for Amphinomus, a foe though he may be.49 In Book XI, we see that in much the same way the heart ofOdysseus is touched by the shade ofAjax, who, still resentful of Odysseus' triumph that drove him to his death, refuses to approach his former adversary in the underworld: wc; 8n /In O (How I wish that I had not won at such a contest, for on account ofthese things the earth covered up such a head, Ajax, who, after the son ofPeleus, was fashioned superior to the other Danaans in form and in deeds.) Odysseus knows that no weapon ofwar, no kingdom's throne, no undying glory could ever compare to the value ofa human life, and this knowledge is one component of Odysseus' choice ofthe moralnopoc; when attempting to escape anOpta in the Odyssey. 49 Likely as not, Odysseus does not feel the same compassion towards the other suitors, because although they may be physically human, by living like wild animals, they tum their backs on their human nature. As Homer notes, the reason that Amphinomus does not take Odysseus' advise is that Athena prevents him from leaving: an' OUO' w~ <\lUYE K~pa' TC£on0E Of Kat tov 'AEhlvn / TnAE!leXxo'U UTCO XEP0t Kat 'Eyyil l<\lt oa!l~vm (XVIII.l55-l56). (But not even thus did he escape his death, but Athena held him back, too, to be overcome by force by the hands and spear ofTelemachus.) As an undying goddess, Athena cannot relate to the compassion for Amphinomus which Odysseus' sensitivity to universal mortality generates and, thus, does grant the same forgiveness. 89 Some three hundred years later, Sophocles depicts a very similar Odysseus in the Ajax, one whose realization ofthe importance of a human life enables him to deliver the Achaeans from anopia by the end ofthe play. At the opening ofthe Ajax, Sophocles presents his audience with the image ofAthena watching over Odysseus as he stalks around Ajax's tent, crawling about like a dog in search of any indication as to what led to the slaughter ofthe Argive cattle: Kat VUV EnEywJ)(; E-{) /l' En' aV6pt 6u0/lEVEl ~am v KUKAOUVT', AlavTl 'T0 0aKE0 (Even now I recognized well that I am wheeling my step around a hostile will, shield-bearing Ajax. For that one, not anyone else, have I long been tracking. For during this night, he has accomplished a bewildering deed, ifindeed these things have really been done. For we know nothing clearly, but we wander. And as a volunteer I submitted myselfto this work...... And some things I interpret by myself, but by others I am perplexed. And I am unable to learn where things stand.) As we have seen time and again in the Odyssey, Ithaca's king is once more in anopia, unable to piece together the evidence; aAW/lE8a perfectly captures the sense ofaimless wandering which naturally accompanies anopia. Unlike the Odysseus ofHomer's great epics, however, here the wily adventurer is incapable offinding a nopo<; immediately; rather, he requires the divine intervention ofAthena to lead him out ofthis anopia. While certainly the gods playa large part in ensuring that the much-traveled man escapes anopia and creates his V00'TO<; in the Odyssey, they nevertheless normally leave it largely 90 to Odysseus to deliver himselffrom anopta. In the Ajax, Odysseus' inability to escape this initial anOpta and his reliance upon Athena to find a n6po~ cause us to realize that this Odysseus is not the same capable man whom Homer portrays; in many ways, Sophocles actually makes the Ithacan out to be a mere coward in refusing to confront Ajax: AtavTa ("I call Ajax. Come before your house." "What are you doing, Athena? Do not in any way call him outside." "Will you not stand in silence and abandon this cowardice?" "No, by the gods. But let it suffice for him to remain within his house.") In stark contrast to Homer's Athena, who does not stop singing the praises ofthe crafty and resourceful Odysseus, this Athena declares herselfthat Odysseus is displaying pure cowardice. While he admits in the Odyssey that he is no match for Achilles or Ajax in physical might alone, preferring to employ'tEXvl1 rather than brute strength, the daring Ithacan does not exhibit such unwillingness to face a human foe. This lesser Odysseus, however, is certainly not without skill. Although he is incapable ofdelivering himselffrom anOpta on his own at the beginning ofthe Ajax, he does reveal his mastery ofpersuasion in addressing Athena. While Odysseus is not forced to exert such forceful persuasion upon Athena as he is upon Nausicaa or Circe in the Odyssey since Athena is already quite eager here to help one ofher favorite mortals, his respect for her certainly encourages the goddess to provide her assistance: KalPOV 0' (But you have arrived at the right time, for as in all these things before, I am guided by 91 your hand in these things hereafter.) With his flattering tongue Odysseus is able to tum Athena into a means ofescaping this initial aTI:Opla. Moreover, regardless of any initially apparent lack of skill, Odysseus exhibits the same awareness ofthe universal condition ofmortality which we saw in the Odyssey as he discusses the fate ofAjax with Athena: ...ETI:OlK'tlPW OE: Vlv OUCycTlVOV E/lTI:ac;, KalTI:Ep oV'm oUO"/lEVn, 080UVEK' atlJ O"uYKatE:sEUKtal KaK~, ouoEv to tDUtOU /laA,A,ov h tou/lov O"KomDv. opw yap n/lac; ouoEV ovtac; aA,A,o TI:A,~v £lOWA,' oO"omEp sW/lEV h Kou (...And I have compassion for him, the wretched man, even though he is my enemy, since he has been yoked to evil blindness, not contemplating his state any more than I do my own. For I see that we, as many as who live, are nothing more than phantoms or an empty shadow.) When Odysseus looks at Ajax, destroyed by such tragedy, he finds pity for him in realizing that both ofthem, as different as they may be, are bound to the limitations of a mortal life and all ofthe aTI:opia that accompanies it. The Ithacan's capacity to relate to someone as different from him as Ajax-and as hostile-reveals that he possesses that ability to adapt to whatever life throws at him which allows him to survive his various trials in the Odyssey. While Agamemnon later refers to this as capricious (E/lTI:A,l1KtOC;) shiftiness, Odysseus responds with an attack against unbending men:50 O"KA,T1PaV ETI:alVE1V OU Odysseus is the very opposite ofO"KA,l1POC;; he is malleable, capable ofshifting his 50 The son ofAtreus describes Odysseus' shift from treating Ajax while alive as an enemy but once dead as a friend as capricious (£/-lJt:A111<:10C;): 10tOtb£ /-l£v1ot 92 argument to match any situation, just as Protagoras advocates, and this above all else allows him to sail through the anopla ofmortal life in both the Odyssey, and as we will see, the Ajax as well. 51 In direct contrast to this capacity ofOdysseus to adjust is the incessant unyieldingness ofAjax, the perfect example ofthe 0K/vIlPOC; man ofwhom Odysseus does not think highly. It is the mighty hero's inability to compromise his sense ofhonor which prevents him from surviving in this imperfect, mortal world: 52 Kat vuv 11 xpn opav; 0011,(; £!-L 51 As Kitto (1956: 198) notes, "[Odysseus] knows that life is uncertain, that today's foe is tomorrow's friend, that no man is great or good all the time, that we should remember good deeds rather than bad, that we must respect the laws ofthe gods." 52 Though writing about Odysseus' trip to the Underworld in Book IX ofthe Odyssey, Dimock's (1989: 158) comparison ofthe two heroes certainly fits the Ajax and Odysseus ofthe Ajax: "Aias died for an honor which Odysseus would give up to have Aias still alive. Aias can never forget that he was defeated, whereas Odysseus rises above defeat and victory alike." 93 (And what is it necessary for me to do now? I, who am openly detested by the gods, and the army ofthe Greeks hates me, and all ofTroy and these plains loathe me. Do I pass through Aegean sea towards home, leaving behind the bases ofsafe anchorage and the sons ofAtreus alone? And, appearing, what sort offace will I show to my father, Telamon? How then will he dare to look upon me, appearing stripped ofthe prizes ofthe best, ofwhich he himselfheld a great crown ofglory? It is not possible for this deed to be endured. But going to the bulwark ofthe Trojans, alone, falling upon them, alone, and doing some good, do I die then at last? But thus I would perhaps delight the sons ofAtreus. These things are not possible. Some such attempt at such things must be sought, from which I may show myoid father that I was not born from him spiritless in nature. For it is shameful for a man who cannot at all remove himself from evils to long for a long life. For what is there to enjoy as day after day pushes us forward from death, then back a little? I would buy at no price the mortal man who is warmed by empty hopes. But it is necessary for the well-born man either to live well or to die well. You have heard my whole argument.) Much like Odysseus time after time in the Odyssey, Ajax finds himselfin anopia, uncertain how he should act-whether to return home, disgraced, to his father or to seek glorious death in battle with the Trojans. This, in fact, is the very anopia which Achilles, a character made from the same mold as Ajax, faces in the Iliad. Ajax, however, is incapable ofmaking either choice, since to return home is to live without honor and to die in battle is to please the foul sons ofAtreus. Trapped in this anopia, the mighty Ajax is incapable offinding a nopo<; without sacrificing his honor, something he refuses to do, and so, this inflexibility forces him to take his own life. In the final scene ofthe Ajax, Odysseus redeems himselffor any previous failures and proves that he is equal to the great hero ofthe Odyssey, as he relies upon his persuasive rhetoric and moral compass to resolve the dispute over the deceased Ajax's 94 corpse. When Odysseus returns to the action late in the play, Agamemnon and Teucer are already heatedly arguing about the fate ofAjax's body; upon his entrance, the chorus immediately hails Odysseus as its possible savior, realizing that he is the man with both the skill to make things right and the moral drive to do so: avas '08U know that you have come at the right time / ifyou are here not to bind these things fast but to help in solving them.) Out ofcompassion for the wretched Ajax, a mortal man himselfafter all, Odysseus joins Teucer in the battle ofwords with Agamemnon, a field on which Odysseus reveals that he is once again supreme: Kat VUV yE TEUKPCQ '!ano '!ou8' aYYEA-A-O/-lal, o (And now, Teucer, I announce that after this, as much as I was then hateful, so much I will be loving. And I wish to join in burying this one, dead, And to work together and to leave undone nothing of as many things as it is necessary for mortals to do for the best men.) The skilled orator, effectively persuading Agamemnon to bury the dead Ajax, delivers the Greeks from the anOPla ofthis confrontation, as the high king, thus convinced by the words ofmighty Odysseus, consents. In many ways, Sophocles' depiction of Odysseus in the Ajax as the compassionate hero is a reflection ofthe general perception ofthe sophists when first they arrived in Athens. Just as Odysseus employs his persuasive speech to reach a greater end in the Ajax, namely the deliverance ofthe Achaean camp from anOPla, so the sophists gave the Athenian youth the power ofrhetoric which would allow them to become effective 95 leaders in both the public and private spheres. Led by men such as Protagoras, who were guided by a concern for morality similar to Odysseus', the sophistic movement soon gained favor among the Athenians and with Pericles himself. However, over the final decades ofthe fifth century B.C., Athens witnessed-or at least perceived-a general change in sophism and the uses to which it was put. Strictly well-intentioned men such as Protagoras seemed no longer in the spotlight; instead the ambitious showed their growing capacity for using the tools ofthe sophists to get ahead-and with little concern for the moral consequences. Years after the scandals involving Pericles, the great patron ofthe sophists, and his death soon after, Alcibiades, his adopted son, gained political prominence; however, unlike Pericles, Alcibiades used his sophistic instruction to deceive Athens, eventually abandoning it for Sparta. Similarly, Cleon, despite claiming to stand against sophism, used its teachings to argue for the utter slaughter ofthe men of rebellious Mytilene. Such misuse ofthe sophists' teachings without consideration for the consequences perverted the earlier sophists' apparent efforts and intentions to benefit society by helping men become more skillful leaders, thus driving Athens into greater anopia and destroying the popular support ofsophism. In the Philoctetes, Sophocles reveals an awareness ofthis corrupted usage ofthe sophistic teachings by completely stripping the sophistic character of Odysseus ofhis moral compass. 53 In contrast to the Odysseus ofthe Ajax, in which Odysseus initially appears as a cowardly human, dependent on the divine might ofAthena to provide a path 53 As Segal (1981: 339-340) states: "The earlier Odysseus [ofthe Ajax] embodies some ofthe best qualities ofa democratic polis: compassion, reasonableness, adaptability, skill at negotiating differences. The victory ofOdyssean persuasiveness and human intelligence gives the dead Ajax some measure of dignity and honor. It effects at least a partial reconciliation between the splendid but harsh intransigence of the old heroism and the flexibility demanded by the new society of the fifth-century polis....Halfa century later, Philoctetes reflects a mood ofmistrust in the declining democracy." As Stanford (1963: 101) notes, Sophocles was far from alone in possessing a negative view ofthe Odysseus figure during the decline of sophism. 96 out ofanop1a, Odysseus achieves marked success in the opening ofthe Philoctetes. In the very first lines ofthe tragedy, we learn that the Greeks, having ascertained that only by possessing the bow ofHeracles will they be able to defeat the Trojans, have turned to Odysseus to deliver them from this anoP1a by convincing Philoctetes to rejoin their ranks or at least by robbing the exile ofhis inherited bow. By the opening ofthe tragedy, Odysseus has already found a nopo<; which he is most certain will lead the Achaeans out ofthis anop1a. The Ithacan king turns to the young Neoptolemus, attempting to use the son ofmighty Achilles to persuade Philoctetes for him: ... 1~V (...It is necessary to for you to deceive the soul ofPhiloctetes with your words.... For ifthe bow ofthis one will not be taken, it is not possible for you to sack the plain ofDardanus.) Just as he controls the Cyclops Polyphemus in Book IX ofthe Odyssey like a puppeteer in the shadows, so Odysseus wishes to use Neoptolemus here as a nopo<; to obtain Philoctetes' bow. Unlike the easily-fooled, one-eyed savage, however, the son ofAchilles is quick to question the commands of Odysseus, being a man ofhonor himself; the young warrior shudders at the thought of cruelly deceiving the outcast of Lemnos to obtain his bow. Thus, to convince Neoptolemus to do his bidding, Odysseus must tum to rhetorical persuasion, ofwhich he appears to be as much of a master as he is in the Odyssey, and with his silver tongue Ithaca's king soon convinces Neoptolemus to obey:54 '11w· nO~ 54 For more on language and friendship in the Phi/oetetes, see Hoppin 1981 and Sega11981: 328-361. 97 nacrcxv CXtcrXUV11V a In winning the favor ofNeoptolemus Odysseus reveals a much darker side than the one portrayed in either the Odyssey or the Ajax: E~OlbCX, ncxl, (I know well, child, that by nature you are not disposed to say such things or to do evils cunningly. But submit to it, for it is a sweet thing to grasp victory. And at another time we will show ourselves as just. But now give yourselfto me for a shameless small part ofa day, and then for the remaining time be called the most pious ofall mortals.) Here, the very sensitivity for the universal human condition which underlies his struggles with anopicx in the Odyssey and the Ajax alike is completely absent in this Odysseus. The wily Ithacan would without a second thought twist the noble, kind-hearted son of Achilles to accomplish his crafty plans. Odysseus' easily praised ability to transform himself as the situation demands in the epics ofHomer and in the Ajax has completely morphed into the cruel shiftiness needed to convince Neoptolemus to torment an innocent man. As Odysseus makes clear to Neoptolemus, all that now matters to him is achieving his desired end: OUK CXtcrxpov ~YlJ b11'TCX 'TO \II£Db11 A.EY£lv; OUK, £t 'TO crw811vcxi y£ 'TO \II£u80C; ("Do you not then believe it is shameful to tell a lie?" "Not ifthe lie brings salvation." "So how can one face the light and utter these things?" 98 "Whenever you do something for profit, it is not fitting to hesitate.") Unlike the Odysseus ofthe Ajax, a man who cherishes the life of a mortal and who recognizes that he and Ajax alike are bound by the common fate ofmortality, this Odysseus demonstrates that he will do whatever is necessary, with no concern for the consequences for others, and even in some ways, himself, to obtain his goa1. 55 Even by the opening ofthe Philoctetes, it is apparent that Odysseus' lack of compassion for all fellow mortals, his forgetfulness ofthe value of a human life, has already led to anopia and to his own suffering: aK't~ !lEV ~o£ TTl~ n£plppu'WU Xeovo~ A~!lVOU, Spo'tOt~ acrnn'to~ ouo' OlKOU!lEVll, EVe', cD Kpa'ticr'tou na'tpo~ 'EA,A,~vwv 'tPa (This is the shore ofLemnos, a land surrounded by water, not trodden or inhabited by mortals, where, 0 Neoptolemus, son ofAchilles, born of a father who was mightiest ofthe Greeks, I once abandoned the Malian, the son ofPoias, ordered to do this by my lords, his foot dripping in a devouring disease, because it was not possible for us easily to touch a libation or sacrifices, but he always afflicted the whole encampment with wild words ofill omen, shouting, yelling...) The very need for the action ofthe Philoctetes, the sole reason why the Achaeans find themselves in anopia in its very first lines, grow out ofOdysseus' blind willingness to 55 As Knox (1966: 124) remarks, "The Odysseus ofthis play has no heroic code which binds him, no standards ofconduct ofany kind; he is for victory, by any and every means." 99 follow orders which call for the sacrifice ofa human life to deliver the Greeks from the burdens ofthe wretched Philoctetes. Just as in Sophocles' eyes the use of sophism had taken Athens along a path with an undesirable end, so Odysseus finds that in obeying the Atrides, rather than his own moral compass, and abandoning Philoctetes on Lemnos, an action that seemed to promise to bring peace to their camp regardless of its effect on the outcast, he in fact chose a nopo~ which has now led to anOpta for all parties involved. As the Philoctetes draws to a close, Odysseus' lack ofa moral compass such as that which guides him to success in the Ajax, proves to be his downfall in the play. Despite all ofthe craftiness ofOdysseus, typically unmatched in oration, Neoptolemus' honest heart does not remain steadfast to the Ithacan's plan, made quickly uncertain out ofpure pity for Philoctetes: 0'11101, "Ct opa 01)"Coo "Col~ napou Philoctetes, and we watch as Odysseus and all ofhis craftiness fail to overcome the persuasive power ofpure pity.56 With his rhetoric failing, Odysseus makes one last attempt at persuasion through threat ofusing brute force: "CEKVOV, "CtVO~ ("Child, whose voice did I hear, Odysseus'?" "Know it assuredly. And see me near by, who will send you offto the fields ofTroy by force 56 As Hoppin (1981: 27) asserts: "But Neoptolemus has not abandoned the false AOYOC; because he believes that only straightforward persuasion will conform to the terms ofthe oracle. He has abandoned it because such deceit is shameful and unjust." 100 ifthe son ofAchilles wants it or ifnot." "But not in any way to your pleasure ifthis arrow be aimed straight") Before the might ofPhiloctetes, the Ajax ofthis play, Odysseus' tongue fails him, as his final words tum out to be nothing but empty, and for once the great tactician is speechless as he exits the play, running for his life. Our final glimpse ofOdysseus in this play reveals a man completely incapable of filling the shoes ofHomer's epic hero; even with all his verbal and tactical craftiness, Ithaca's king is nothing without a comprehension ofthe common bond ofmortality and the compassion which comes from it. Odysseus' meddling has left not only him and the Greek army in anoP1a, unable to obtain the bow ofHerac1es, but also Neoptolemus and Philoctetes, who are now uncertain where to tum: wcr't'Uyvoe; atwv, 't1 !l' En 811't' ExEte; avw ~A-£nov'ta, KOUK a<\>11Kae; Ete; "Al80'U !loA-ElY; o'l!lol, 't1 8pacrw; nwe; anw't~crw A-OYOle; 'tOle; 'tou8', oe; EUVO'Ue; cDv E!lOl napDvEcrEv; aA-A-' EtKaew 811't'; El'ta nwe; 0 8ucr!lopoe; Ee; <\>we; 'ta8' Ep~ae; El!ll; 'to npocr~yopoe;; nwe;, W't (0 hated life, why still do you hold me up above, seeing, and not send me on my journey to Hades? Oh me, what will I do? How shall I distrust the words ofthis one, who being well-minded, advised me? But shall I then yield? Then how will I, ill-fated, go into the light, having done these things? Addressed by whom? o eyes, seeing all these things about me, how will you endure seeing me being with the sons ofAtreus, who destroyed me? How seeing me with the all-destructive son ofLaertes?) By listening to their hearts, this pair seem destined to find their own way out ofanoP1a, but only the gods can deliver the Greek army from its uncertainty, as Herac1es' late 101 appearance convinces Philoctetes to rejoin his comrades in Troy, accomplishing what Odysseus without his greater concern for other mortals is no longer able to do. One ofthe many epithets ofOdysseus in the Odysseus is nOA,U~TrCU; (ofmany counsels); while his ~TrCU; certainly sets the Ithacan apart from most ofthe other characters ofHomer's epic, there are nonetheless other characters who have similar such skills. Aegisthus is often called 80A,O~lrn<; (crafty of counsel) when he is mentioned in the Odyssey. While Odysseus and Aegisthus hold common epithets, what separates them is their use Of~l1'tl<;. Guided by his moral compass, Odysseus uses his skills ofmind to obtain a V00'lO<;, where Aegisthus uses his to seduce Clytemnestra and kill Agamemnon, an act which soon leads to his death and befouls his name among both men and gods. When Odysseus abandons his moral compass in the Philoctetes, he reduces himselfto just such a character as Aegisthus, a man whose ~11'tl<; leads not out ofbut into anopia. 102 Conclusion This thesis has thus examined the ways in which Odysseus confronts and responds to anopia. While the word anopia appears nowhere in Homer's two great epics, it gained popularity in the fifth century among the sophists, who sought to teach others the skills needed to deal effectively with the anopia ofthe mortal world. Despite the absence ofthis word, the Odyssey is nonetheless in many ways one extended confrontation with anopia. As we learn in the poem's opening ode, the Odyssey is the story ofman who continuously struggles to obtain his V00'TO<;. Thus, the sea is the greatest image ofanopia in the Odyssey, but Odysseus is well-equipped with the 'TExVT] required to manage it. The much-traveled man demonstrates his ability to employ such 'TExVT] to escape anopia throughout the Odyssey, but most notably in dealing with the Cyclops Polyphemus and the suitors back in Ithaca; this reliance upon 'TfXVT] gives Ithaca's king an advantage over such foes, far mightier or greater in number, and helps to reassert his human nature. Craft alone cannot save Odysseus from many ofthe perils he faces, however; even in confronting the Cyclops, he must also tum to his skill with words to ensure the success ofhis plan. In other occasions, Odysseus relies primarily on such oral persuasion, flattering and invoking pity in both Circe and Nausicaa to use them as paths out ofhis anopia. On the other hand, in confronting the suitors, Ithaca's king must depend upon deception as he plans his strike, a choice which strips him ofhis human identity and subsequently compels him to reassert it. Three times-by Circe, Calypso, and Nausicaa, respectively-Odysseus is offered a home in an immortal world and, thus, an escape from all ofthese mortal woes; at first the wearied wanderer sits in anopia, tom 103 between his two separate desires, but over time he finds his nopo~ in realizing that he is not willing to forget the mortal world and his unique human identity. This appreciation ofhuman life leads to a greater understanding ofmortality as a universal condition shared by all humans; this realization engenders a compassion for his fellow mortals and fortifies the morals onto which Odysseus firmly holds, even in anopia. In response to the uses of sophism in the fifth century, Sophocles plays with the notion ofmorality in escaping anopia in first granting success to an initially less spectacular, but morally grounded Odysseus in the Ajax and then denying it to a wholly crafty, but morally devious Odysseus in the Philoctetes, for, as in the Odyssey, the ability to deal with the anopia of a mortal life depends not only on skill, but also on the compassion which comes from recognizing mortality as a universal condition. While Odysseus presents a very bleak image ofmankind in his speech to Amphinomus in Book XVIII ofthe Odyssey, Sophocles offers a much more glorified one in the Antigone: Kat ~e£y~a Kat aVE~oEV ~povll~a Kat acrTuvo~oD~ 6pya~ EOloa~a'!o Kat oDcraUA,WV naywv unaiepEla Kat oucro~~pa ~EUY£lV ~£A,11 nav'!onopo~· anopo~ En' OUOEV EPXE'! (And [man] taught himselflanguage and wind-swift thought and the dispositions for ruling the city and to flee the open air ofinhospitable frosts and the stormy bolts, all inventive. Not at a loss does he go towards anything that will come. From Hades alone 104 will he not devise an escape, but he has contrived escapes from impossible maladies.) While Sophocles' ode rightly stresses that no mortal can invent a n6po~ to escape death, Homer in the Odyssey finds in this very mortality an essential quality ofour humanity. Had Odysseus not chosen mortal life at some untold moment on the shores ofOgygia, there would be no need for the Odyssey; he would have undoubtedly lived a blessedly immortal life, but not one that Homer would need to record in thousands of stunning lines, for the wily wanderer would never have faced the perils ofhis final sea voyage and ofthe suitors or needed to recount his previous adventures to the Phaeacian nobles. But he does choose mortality, for the Odyssey is not just the story of a man, but ofmankind. Armed with the practical skills, the respect for mortality, and a strong moral compass, Odysseus is the very model ofthe navwn6po~ man whom Sophocles praises in the Antigone at the height ofthe positive influence ofthe sophists' teachings. The feeling of anopia transcends all times and cultures, but mankind has learned to deal with it. Just as today Prodicus' /lueo~ about the young Heracles in anopia still touches whoever has tasted such anopia, so the Odyssey remains dear to our hearts as the story ofthe best of mankind surviving-and indeed consciously embracing-the mortal world in all ofits , , anopla. 105 Bibliography Austin, Norman. 1975. Archery at the Dark o/the Moon: Poetic Problems in Homer's Odyssey. Berkeley, CA: University ofCalifornia Press. Clay, Jenny Strauss. 1983. The Wrath 0/Athena: Gods and Men in the Odyssey. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Ed. 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