The Odyssey - Homer 2009

The Odyssey – Homer 2009

“The most significant characteristic of the two, as of all the suitors, is that they constantly thinl one thing and say another. Such duplicity is unitypical of Homeric characters- In the Iliad, heroic thought and action are all of a piece: once a hero thinks of something, he does it.” (EV Rieu in Homer, 2009, p.xxiv).

“(I)n Homer the gods only help those who are worthy of it.” (EV Rieu in Homer, 2009, p.xxxvii).

“The ‘No one’ trick in the Cyclops cave (the Greek for ‘No one’, me tis, when run together, makes metis, Greek for ‘resourcefulness, cunning’, one of Odysseus’ most common epithets.” (EV Rieu in Homer, 2009, p.xxxvii).

“Take, for example, the scar episode. At 19.392, Eurycleia ‘recognized the scar, the one Odysseus had received years before’. The story of the scar is told, and it ends (467): ‘it was this scar that the old woman felt and recognized’. It is an extremely common controlling device in Homer.” (EV Rieu in Homer, 2009, p.xxxix).

“Life in its sweetness was ebbing away in the tears he shed for his lost home.” (Homer, 2009, p.66).

“And now Athene filled his eyes with sleep and sealed their lids – sleep to soothe his pain and utter weariness.” (Homer, 2009, p.75).

“For nothing in the world is so shamelessly demanding as a man’s confounded stomach.” (Homer, 2009, p.90).

“”Odysseus, why are you sitting like this as though you were dumb, and feeding on your own thoughts instead of helping yourself to meat and wine?” (Homer, 2009, p.134).

“they thought of their beds and accepted the gift of sleep.” (Homer, 2009, p.222).

“All-seeing Zeus takes half the good out of a man on the day he becomes a slave.” (Homer, 2009, p.231).

“’Of all the creatures that breathe and creep about on Mother Earth there is none so helpless as man. As long as the gods grant him prosperity and health he imagines he will never suffer misfortune in the future. Yet when the blessed gods bring him troubles he has no choice but to endure them with a patient heart. The reason is that the view we mortals take of this earthly life depends on what Zeus, the Father of gods and men, sends us day by day.” (Homer, 2009, p.242).

“But you’re just a braggart with the heart of a bully, who take yourself for a big man and a hero only because the people you meet are so few, and so undistinguished.” (Homer, 2009, p.248).

“there’s a force in iron that lures men on.” (Homer, 2009, p.250).

“’I keep no man idle who has eaten my bread, however far he may have journeyed.” (Homer, 2009, p.250).

“Father Zeus, you are the cruellest of gods. You have no compunction about dealing out misfortunes, misery and suffering to us men; yet it was you who caused us to be born.” (Homer, 2009, p.271).