not help him in the great cause, the Gods
will, and now he makes his appeal to them.

The Ithacans had refused a ship in order that he might go and learn
something about his father; that is, they will not permit his
education, which is at present the first object.

He goes down to the seacoast, where he will be alone, communing with
the Goddess and with himself, and there he prays to Pallas, washing his
hands in the grey surf--which is, we may well think, a symbolic act of
purification. Is it a wonder that Pallas, taking the human shape of
Mentor, comes and speaks to him? She must, if she be at all; he is
ready, and she has to appear. Her first words are but the echo of his
conduct all through the preceding scene with the Assembly: "Telemachus
henceforth thou shalt be wanting neither in valor nor in wisdom." She
rouses him by the fame and deeds of his father, because he is already
aroused. Still she is a very necessary part; she is the divine element
in the world speaking to Telemachus and helping him; she shows that his
thought is not merely subjective, but is now one with hers, with
objective wisdom, and will rule the fact. He ascends into the realm of
true vision, and from thence organizes his purpose. It is true that the
poet represents Pallas as ordering the means for the voyage, as at
first she ordered the work of the whole poem. Yet this is also done by
Telemachus who has risen to participation in that glance which beholds
the truth and controls the world.

Often will the foregoing statement be repeated; every divine appearance
in Homer, of any import, is but a repetition of the one fact, which
must always be re-thought by the reader. That which Telemachus says is
no longer his mere wish or opinion, but it is the reality, the valid
thing outside of him, hence it is voiced by the Goddess, and must take
place. Thus the poet often compels his reader to rise with him into the
sphere of the divine energy, where thinking and willing are one, and
man's insight is just the word of the God.

The remaining circumstances of the Book group themselves around the two
centers--Telemachus and Pallas--as the Goddess orders them in advance:
"Go thou home and get the stores ready, while I shall engage a ship and
crew among the Ithacans."

1. Telemachus goes among the Suitors, evidently to avoid suspicion,
which his absence might provoke. They taunt and deride him, whereof
three samples are again given. He goes his way, consci