he Book returns to Telemachus and his ship; he
has escaped the men in ambush, and has reached the Ithacan shore at a
distance from the palace; he sends the vessel to the town while he goes
to the hut of the swineherd in accord with the plan of the Goddess.

But he has on his hands the seer Theoclymenus, whom he first thinks of
sending to one of the Suitors; but when the seer utters a favorable
prophecy, Telemachus sends him to one of his own friends for
entertainment. A curious touch of policy; it was well to have the
prophet in a friendly house, where he might be ready for service; even
prophetic vision can be colored by personal attachments.

_BOOK SIXTEENTH._

This Book connects directly with the preceding Book, and brings about
not only the external meeting and recognition of father and son, but
their spiritual fusion in a common thought and purpose. The scene is
still laid in the swineherd's hut, but the swineherd himself must be
eliminated at this point. The question rises, Why does the poet hold it
so necessary to keep the matter secret from Eumaeus? The care which
Homer takes with this object in view, is noteworthy. Evidently the
swineherd was not ready to participate, or would endanger the scheme.
Yet of his fidelity there could be no question.

We have already stated our opinion on this subject. Various external
reasons may be suggested but the real reason lay in the character of
Eumaeus. He was too sincere, open-hearted, transparent for those wily
Greeks; he might let out the great secret in pure simplicity of mind;
he is their contrast just herein, he is not a Greek. The situation
demanded disguise, dissimulation, possibly downright lying; Eumaeus was
not the man for that. Such is his greatest honor, yet such is also his
limit; if Ulysses and Telemachus were such as he, they would have all
died nobly in their cause, but the Suitors would have triumphed, and
the institutional world of Ithaca would have gone to the dogs. At least
its rescue could not have taken place through them. Such is the moral
contradiction which now rises, and will continue to rise more and more
distinctly to view throughout the rest of the poem.

There are the two strands in the Book which are the main ones of the
poem, that of the father and son, and that of the Suitors. Both are
here put together and contrasted with new incidents, which are leading
inevitably to the grand culmination. These two strands we shall now
briefl