o look after his
guest, the prophet Theoclymenus. The Suitors throng about him, but do
him no harm; a number of his friends are near at hand, and the Suitors
are divided among themselves.

After his return to the palace, Telemachus tells his mother the story
of his journey. First he went to Pylos and "saw Nestor there," and held
intercourse with the wise old man of the Greeks, which was certainly a
memorable event in the life of the youth. But Nestor could tell him
nothing about the present condition or dwelling-place of Ulysses, so
the son was sent onwards to Sparta, to Menelaus, where "I saw Argive
Helen, for whose sake the Greeks and Trojans suffered many evils by
will of the Gods." Menelaus tells Telemachus the words of Proteus
concerning his father Ulysses, gently touching the story of the nymph
Calypso, whereat the queen was deeply moved. His news is that his
father cannot return.

At this point the prophet comes in with his prophecy. "I declare that
Ulysses in his own land again, sitting or creeping about in secret; he
is taking note of these evil deeds just now, and plans destruction for
the Suitors." The response of Penelope shows her mind. "May thy
prophetic word be fulfilled!" It is well to note the art with which
this prophet has been brought to the palace of Ulysses to foreshadow
the coming event.

Moreover this whole passage connects with the Third and Fourth Books,
which recounted the Journey of Telemachus to Pylos and Sparta. Of
course the school of dissectors have sought to show the entire
narrative here to be an interpolation by a later hand. One says that
the brief allusion to the trip is tiresome to the reader. As if Homer
composed for readers! But what reader ever found these few lines
tiresome? The whole account of the son to the mother is one of the
links which bind the Odyssey into unity, hence the wrath against it in
certain quarters.

II. The second part of the present Book gives the movements of Ulysses,
and is more important and more fully elaborated than the preceding
part. The hero is in disguise, he is to take his first glimpse of the
state of affairs in his palace. He will experience in his own person
the wrongs of the Suitors and their adherents; he will apply a test to
bring out their character. This test is that of humanity, of charity
toward a beggar; how will the Suitors behave toward him?

While he is on the way to the city with Eumaeus, he has his preliminary
skirmish. They