By his charity and piety he has
helped, indeed has brought about the return of Ulysses unwittingly. The
man, if he follow the law, is always helping, though he may not see
that he is, may even think that he is not. This ethical order of the
world underlies the tale, and is what the ancient listener must have
felt so that Homer's poems became a bible to him. Providence in
disguise is its title, here represented by the Hero in disguise.

III. The supper and its preparation are quite fully described; it is
the second meal of pork in this Book. This we may pass over, to note
the stratagem of Ulysses to obtain a cloak from the swineherd. The
stranger tells his stratagem once upon a time at Troy for the same
purpose; whereat the swineherd takes the hint and says: "Thou shalt not
lack for a garment or anything else which is befitting a suppliant."
Thus Ulysses obtained his cloak, and slept warm by the hearth.

But the other hint the swineherd did not take, the hint of the
disguise. He sees the artifice of his guest to obtain the cloak, but
never thinks in his own mind: This is Ulyssess himself, the man of
wiles trying to get the cloak again tonight. Yet Ulysses has gone far
toward telling him just that. The swineherd cannot suspect, it is
foreign to his nature; this is just his beauty of character and its
limitation.

But Ulysses has to disguise in order to do his work. He is in his own
land, on his own territory, yet he dares not appear as he is. This is
not his fault. His whole object is to get rid of this necessity of
disguise, so that he may be himself. The time will not permit candor,
hence his call is to correct the time. Violence is met by disguise, as
it always is; fraud destroys itself; the negation negates itself. Such
is the process which we are now beholding.

_BOOK FIFTEENTH._

In contrast with the previous Book, the present Book has not so much
disguise; Ulysses falls somewhat into the background, and several
undisguised characters came forward. Still there are points in common,
the most striking of which is the tale of Eumaeus, the correspondence of
which with the tale of Ulysses in the Fourteenth Book impresses itself
upon every careful reader.

But the main fact of the present Book is the bringing together of the
various threads for the grand final enterprise, which is the punishment
of the guilty Suitors. Ulysses and Eumaeus are already on hand; to them
now Telemachus is to be added, who comes