A Guide to the Odyssey: A Commentary on the English Translation of Robert Fitzgerald (13 page)

19–21
all the rest
…: The other surviving Greeks, most prominently Agamémnon, Nestor, and Meneláos.
The Odyssey
places Odysseus’ homecoming [
nostos
] alongside the homecomings of
the other Greeks. Indeed, one may regard it as a study in comparative homecomings, in which Odysseus’, though the most difficult and longest delayed, is in the end the best. Agamémnon of course reached home only to die at once (see the Introduction, pp. lix-lxi, for extensive comparisons of the two families). We will see Nestor and Meneláos at home in Books III and IV, respectively, and each will relate his own homeward journey and news of others’.

The
Nostoi
belonged to the “epic cycle,” a cumulative collection of lesser epic accounts of the entire Trojan War, including the lead-up to it and its aftermath. These poems are extant today only in fragments and summaries. Even in their own day, the two Homeric poems were recognized as the jewels in the cyclic crown; the others were but fretwork.

22
home and wife:
The winning or regaining of these two characterizes roughly the first and second halves of the poem, respectively. Odysseus places his feet on Ithaka once again at the beginning of
Book XIII
, and is fully reunited with Penélopê in
Book XXIII
, the penultimate book of the epic.

28
ordained for him:
For the conception of fate, see Introduction, pp. l-li. The verb used here draws on the metaphorics of spinning [
epeklôsanto
, “assigned to by spinning,” 17]. For the fates,
Moirai
, as spinners, see VII.212, below.

29–30
These lines foreshadow the second half of
The Odyssey
, after Odysseus lands in Ithaka. His is a story not merely of travels in exotic regions and adventures beyond human experience—that justly famous section in fact only occupies Books IX-XII—but more deeply of reintegration, of homecoming. He must not only arrive on the shore of Ithaka but also become a father to a son he has never seen and win back his wife—which in turn involves besting the suitors as well as regaining her trust. Finally he must restore order to Ithakan society, which is on the verge of civil war after he massacres the suitors. As yet, however, there is no mention of the suitors; “trials and dangers” are unspecified.

31–34
all but Poseidon:
Homer refers to the wrath of Poseidon directed at Odysseus but does not explain the reason for it at this point. It may well have been traditional, in which case the audience would have understood the reference. If not, they would only have to wait until line 92 to find out. Without pre-Homeric texts, we simply cannot say with absolute certainty when Homer was following or adapting tradition and when he was effecting a major innovation.

36
the sunburnt races:
Fitzgerald quite properly translates Homer’s “Ethiopians,” whose name in Greek [
Aithiopas
, 23] means “burnt” or “swarthy faces” [
aith- + ops
]. According to legend, it is their proximity to the rising and setting sun (37–38) that has rendered them sunburnt, although, as with most such explanatory accounts, we cannot determine whether the name was applied after the story was told or the story was created to explain the name. The same word
aithôn
means “brown” and is referred to iron in I.227 [
aithônan
, 184], where, following an older interpretation, Fitzgerald has translated it as “bright” (see XXII. 7, below). In support of the reference to iron, scholars point to the Greek linking of dark, sunburned skin to manly prowess—those who spend much time in the Mediterranean sun become dark. There is thus nothing negative about the “sunburned” or “brown faces” of the Ethiopians here. (See also XIX.290–91, below.) Zeus likewise absents himself from Olympos to visit the Ethiopians at
Iliad I
.423–24, but all the gods follow him.

42ff
.
In the bright hall of Zeus on Olympos
…: Although the first audience of
The Odyssey
could not be aware of it at this point, this council of the gods begins a transition to the so-called Telemachy or Telémakhos episode (Books I-IV). Analyst scholars (see Introduction, p. xlii) have argued that in an earlier, in their view original, version of
The Odyssey
, the poet moved directly from the proem to the divine council with which
Book V
now begins. Certainly one could imagine a poet, earlier or later, singing a
version which begins from the point Zeus sends Hermês to order Kalypso to release Odysseus (Book V. 1–154 in our “monumental” version).

Our poet, however, is preparing the shift of focus to Telémakhos from the very start. Zeus is presented as meditating on the justice Orestês meted out to Aigísthos (45–46), and it is Orestês’ position Telémakhos holds in the frequent comparisons of the two families and whose shoes he is repeatedly encouraged to fill (see Introduction, pp. lx-lxi). In the text it is Athena whom Homer presents as speaking to shift Zeus’ mind from Agamémnon’s murderer, himself in turn murdered, to Odysseus (64–84). Zeus claims he has not forgotten him, but Poseidon has caused delays (86–104). Zeus is willing to entertain discussion now so “that he may sail” (102), but again it is Athena who takes the disposition of affairs into her own hands. Athena cuts short any lengthy discussion suggested in line 101 [
periphrazômetha pantes
, “let us all carefully consider,” 76] by proposing that Zeus send Hermês to Kalypso with orders to let Odysseus depart (108–12, with a polite nod to the other gods in 107). It is this request that Zeus will grant at V.32–47, although at that point Athena will have expressed primary concern for Telémakhos’ safety (V.9–22, another arrow in the analysts’ quiver; see V.9–14, below). In
Book I
, however, Athena doesn’t even give Zeus a chance to act on her proposal before saying that she will go to Ithaka and send Telémakhos on a voyage of inquiry (113–22).

Homer makes Athena do whatever he wants, and he wants her to move the focus onto Telémakhos. It is interesting that the poet presents the goddess so forcefully, as almost willfully stagemanaging the affairs of the gods as Odysseus will in
The Odyssey
the affairs of men—and as Homer does throughout the epic on the level of narrative economy. What Athena and her protégé Odysseus have in common is often stressed (see 63, below). She loves the hero’s wiliness, his strategizing, his prudence.

These are all traits long observed and admired in the work of the author of
The Odyssey
. Goddess, hero, poet—they make a formidable trio.

44
the father of gods and men:
A frequently used formula. Zeus’ primacy over the other gods was, according to myth, not original (much less eternal) but hard-won (see 64, below, on his overthrow of his father/predecessor). And the very person of Akhilleus, hero of the
The Iliad
, serves to remind us that Zeus’ power is not certain to remain forever: Having heard the prophecy that the son of Thetis would be stronger than his father, Zeus abandoned his suit of Thetis and ceded her to the mortal Peleus.

For all the jockeying for power and battles that went on, at any one time a single male god typically presided over each of the ancient Near Eastern pantheons.

45–46
At many points through
The Odyssey
, the story of Odysseus’ homecoming is contrasted with that of Agamémnon. (See Introduction, pp. lixff., and I.19–21, above.) Agamémnon’s wife, the here unmentioned Klytaimnéstra, is a counterexample to the faithful Penélopê. Highlighted here, at the beginning of four books focusing on Telémakhos, is the son of Agamémnon and Klytaimnéstra, Orestês. He is the ultimate avenger of his father’s murder at the hands of Klytaimnéstra’s lover, Aigísthos, and he is held up as the model of a son who has matured and taken charge of his absent father’s house. Fortunately, the parallels are not complete: Odysseus is not dead, although that appears likely to the Ithakans at home. In Aigísthos we have a figure who represents Penélopê’s suitors; again, fortunately, none of the suitors is successful and thus in a place to challenge her husband upon his return. But the point of counterexamples is just this: to provide a basis against which to measure the distances. The disastrous story of Agamémnon looms, from the first book to the last, as the nightmare homecoming into which Odysseus’ story might develop.

48–62
Zeus defends himself and his fellow gods. They gave warnings, but Aigísthos in his folly ignored them. Throughout
The Odyssey
, the pious characters (Odysseus, Telémakhos, Penélopê) will take heed of divine portents and direct advice, while the impious (the suitors) will not. Like Aigísthos, the suitors will be destroyed.

In
Paradise Lost
, the poet takes on the task of defending divine justice (a “theodicy,” as it is later termed), which Homer puts in a god’s mouth here. Milton concludes his proem with the prayer, “That … / I may assert Eternal Providence / And justify the ways of God to men” (I.24–26).

50
folly:
The same word in Greek [
atasthaliêisin
, 34] which lies behind “recklessness” (I.12[7]) and the “foolishness” of X.484 [433]. See 10–12, above.

51–52
double … in the lot of man, double portion:
The Greek behind both phrases is
huper moron
[34, 35], literally, “above” or “beyond one’s fate;” a common English idiom roughly equivalent is “before one’s time.” Fitzgerald is right in his rendering to avoid the literal, because the Greeks certainly did not muse on the workings of fate every time they heard this common expression, much less ask themselves, “What is
moros
(commonly translated ‘fate’ or ‘doom’) if things that are not fated or are beyond fate can happen?” (On fate and the “fates” see Introduction, pp. Hi, I.28, above, and VII.212, below).

53
Agamémnon’s wife:
Klytaimnéstra remains unnamed until III.285 [266]. For “wife” here, Homer has the phrase
alokhon mnêstên
[36], “lawfully wedded wife” or, even more literally, “successfully wooed bedmate.” There are interesting overtones to this collocation. She is his legitimate consort—just as she is
not
Aigísthos’ legitimate wife (and as any number of captives, among them Kassandra, are not Agamémnon’s legitimate wives).
Mnêst-
is of course a significant component of Klytaimnéstra’s name; on her “fame for being wooed”—and the contrast both her name and
mnêstên
would spark with Penélopê, so famously wooed in
The Odyssey
(the suitors are
mnêstêres
)—see Introduction, note 17. On
alokhon
, “bedmate,” see XXII.480, below.

56
Argeiphontês:
See under Hermês in Who’s Who.

59
Orestês:
Homer says, “Orestês, son of the son of Atreus” [40], reminding listeners that the history of enmity in this family goes back several generations (see XI.506–12, below, and the entries for Aigísthos, Atreus, and Thyestês in Who’s Who).

63
The goddess Athena is throughout the epic the “special friend” and sponsor of Odysseus (see 42ff., above, and XIII.239–43, below, indeed the whole first scene back on Ithaka).

64
Homer’s Athena uses the patronymic “son of Kronos” [45] for Zeus. While entirely conventional, it is also a sly reminder that his own lineage—and ascension—involved intrafamilial violence. The “father of gods” was himself a son who had to supersede his father to gain power. Telémakhos is often referred to as Odysseus’ son, and Odysseus, though less frequently, as the son of Laërtês (e.g., V.212). On generations, particularly of males, see Introduction, pp. lv-lvi.

67–68
is broken for the master mind of war:
Here in the Greek Homer plays with the sound of the words [
daiphroni daietai
, 48]. Alliteration is but one of the many strings to Homer’s musical-poetic lyre.

80
that he longs to die:
This is strong and marks the difference between the mortals and immortals [
athanatoi
—“undying”—in Greek]. The Homeric hero would rather die than depart from what he desires, whether it be home or fame. The Iliadic Akhilleus feels this way but later recants in the underworld to Odysseus (XI.548ff., and especially XI.569–81, below). So also Aias, son of Télamon. Generally, Odysseus is distinguished by his fierce desire to
live
. In this, he is unlike the Iliadic warriors.

84
hold against:
Ôdusao
[62], in Greek the penultimate word of Athena’s speech, plays on what was taken to be the etymology of Odysseus’ name (see XIX.463ff. and 478–81, both below). Stanford
has suggested “doomed to odium” as a translation to bring that etymology to the fore, but Odysseus metes out almost as much suffering as he endures, an ambiguity that the verb and the name permit (see XIX.480 on this aspect of the etymology). At line 76 “poor mournful man” [
oduromenon
, 55] may also count as etymological play. (See VIII. 70, below, for the fullest list of Homer’s wordplay.)

90ff
. Now we learn why Poseidon is punishing Odysseus (although Homer’s audience may already have known this from earlier tales; see also 31–34, above).

92
Polyphêmos:
In Greek, the Kyklops is not merely named. He is styled “godlike Polyphêmos” [
antitheon Polyphêmon
, 70]. In fact, Homer has already used the epithet to describe Odysseus [21; Fitzgerald’s “brave king,” 33] and will apply it with equanimity to Meneláos’ shipmates [IV.571; Fitzgerald’s “companions,” 610], Penélopê [XI. 117; Fitzgerald’s “your lady,” 131], and the suitors [XIV. 18; Fitzgerald’s “suitors,” 19]. To this system we might also add the epithets
dios
, “divine” (frequently reduced to “noble”)—applied in
The Odyssey
not only to Kalypso (“ladyship,” I.22 [14]), but also to Klytaimnéstra [III.266], Kharbydis [XII. 104], and even Eumaios [XVI.56]—and
theoeidês
, “godlike in appearance”—as of Telémakhos [I.113; Fitzgerald’s “prince Telémakhos,” 142].