Biding his time

"Wild reckless taunts- and just as he passed Odysseus the idiot lurched out with a heel and kicked his hip but he couldn't knock the begger off the path he stood his ground so staunchly. Odysseus was otrn should he wheel with his staff and beat thte scoundrel senseless, or houst him up by the midriff, split his skull on the rocks? he steeled himself instead, his mind in full control."
book 17. line 255-260

In order for Odysseus to controll the element of surprise he must hold himself back and take whatever punishment he recieves. For if he were to lash out at the goatherd he would have to face the suitors and they would surly not stand for a lowly begger killing a servent who provided them their meat. Now is not the time for himself to confront the suitors and reveal himself so he must hold his ground. However he still has his pride and does not allow himself to show any sign that the goatherds harsh taunts and attack had any affect on him.

The nature of things

Pleasant it is... to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation:.... to percieve what what ills you are free from yourself is pleasent. Pleasent is it to behold great encounters of warfare arrayed over the plains, with no part of yours in the peril... O blind intelligences! In what gloom of life, that pain be removed away out of the body, and that the mind, kept away from care and fear, enjoy a feeling of delight!

On the nature of things
Loeb pp. 145

the sea

"Nothing worse than the sea, I always say, to crush a man, the strongest man alive."

Book 8 line 160

A beard on his face

Book 20 pp. 420 line 340

"Ctesippus, you can thank your lucky stars you missed our guest-he ducked your blow, by god! Else I would have planted my sharp spear in your bowels... Enough. Don't let me see more offenses in my house, not from anyone! I'm alive to it all, now, the good and the bad- the boy you knew is gone... but no more of your crimes against me please!... guests treated to blows, men dragging the serving-women through our noble house, exploiting them all, no shame!"

Telemachus is no longer afraid to stand up to his guest, realizing it shows badly upon him to allow the suitors to commit such barbarous acts against his guests in his own home. He has completed his rite of passage and left his home and shelter of his mother and servants, learning and growing becoming the great man he was meant to be. He knows that he cannot justify attacking the suitors as they are guests in his house despite there brazen, disrespectful actions but he certainly cannot allow them to attack his guests. If Telemachus had done this before his voyage he would have been struck down by the suitors, but coming back with a beard on his face, stories to tell and gifts from kings of far away states the suitors know he is no longer a boy and is not be trifled with and his surly being watched by the gods.

Heroic Mantra

Book 5 pp. 159 line 240

".... she is mortal after all and you, you never age or die... nevertheless I long- I pine, all my days to travel home and see the dawn of my return. And if a god will werck me yet again on the wine-dark sea, i can bear that too, with a spirit tempered to endure. Much i have suffered laboured long and hard by now in the waves and wars. add this to the total- bring the trial on!"

This is Odyseus' heroic mantra, he has waited years to go home and realizing he wont just be set free he must demand his passage home. This is what proves he is a true hero, he has a perfect life with calypso on her beautiful island getting anything he could desire. But he wants his home, with his wife and son, his glory. He may have everything in a lazy mans eyes, but to him he has nothing. He has already suffered so much, and yet he realizes that there may still be more to come, but Odyseus is an epic hero and will bear through any task put before him. Endure any labour and will not give up until he reaches his home and completes nostos, or die trying.

Eurylochus the Brave

Book 10 line pp. 238 line 290

But he flung both arms around my knees and pleaded, begging me with his tears and winging words: 'Don't force me back there, captain, king leave me here on the spot...'

Eurylochus is described as brave by Homer, he was even chosen by Odysseus to be his right hand man. He is always the first one to speak his mind and lead the way, but only to better himself, when he is faced with any real danger he becomes weak and falls to his knees. He fights Odysseus' rule knowing that his King will not strike one of his own crew down for only speaking his beliefs, and because of this he leads the crew astray on several occasions. Foolishly guiding them to even more hardship by taking the easy way out. Unfortunately for Odysseus the actions of a crew is reflected on to their captain. The crews shortsighted actions caused much strife for both themselves and Odysseus. In the end on the island of Thrinacia they make their fatal mistake, going against the oath they swore by killing the cattle of the sun god, they paid for this mistake with their lives.

Master of cunning makes a mistake.

Book 9 pp. 227 line 560

I called back with another burst of anger, 'Cyclops, if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so-say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes' son who makes his home in Ithaca!'

This is a pivotal point in Odysseus' voyage home where despite having been able to devise a plan to escape the cyclops' island he lets himself be consumed by Hubris and reveals himself to the monster he had escaped. By doing so he doomed his crew and himself to many years of suffering at the hands of Poseidon, Polyphemus' father. Odysseus learned from his mistake, realizing that you should only reveal yourself when you know it is truely the perfect time. Even when you think your home free, gloating about it will end badly.

Common man's view

"Great nations write their autobiograpies in three manuscripts, the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art."

Unfortunately for historians there is almost never any written record of the common man of the time. It is not like our age, where anyone with an opinion can spread his views around the world. Just like I am in this Blog.

Example of CUNNING/metis

Both Polyphemus and his fellow cyclops were fooled by Odysseus' cunning, when they hear Polyphemus' distress they ask what is causing him such pain he says

"My friends, it is Nobody that is slaying me by guile and not by force."

Odysseus had the foresight to tell the Cyclops his name was Nobody, so that his brethren would not come to his aid.

OH the irony.

"They took the stake of olivewood, sharp at the point , and thrust it into his eye, while I, throwing my weight upon it from above, whirled it round...blood flowed round it, all hot as it was...so did his eye hiss round the stake of olivewood."

How ironic it is that the great cyclops Polyphemus should be blinded and brought so much pain by an object that is normally used to represent peace and harmony.

When we need them

"Old myths, old gods, old heroes have never died. They are only sleeping at the bottom of our mind, waiting for our call. We have need for them. They represent the wisdom of our race." ~Stanley Kunitz

This quote means in my opinion that you do not need to think of your heroes every day, when completing every task, they are heroes not for their everyday life but for the major accomplisments they have made. These sit in the back of our mind, sometimes they need to be brought forward when a task has been set before you, one so daunting that you dont even know where to begin. This is when you must think of your heroes and look upon them for inspiration, for somewhere to begin, knowing that when they had these tasks to complete they probably didnt know what to do either. Knowing this, you can be put at ease, not worrying about how your going to do it but just be able to begin and work your way through it. Just like your heroes had to....