ung and
the mature man. Father and son reveal an overcoming of limitation;
Telemachus overcomes his limit of ignorance, Ulysses overcomes his
limit of negation--the one by the instruction of the wise, the other by
the experience of life. Both are trained to a belief in an ethical
order which rules the world; therein both are made internally ready for
the great act of delivering their country. The training of both reaches
forward to a supreme practical end--the destruction of the Suitors and
the purification of Ithaca. (For the further structure of these two
parts--the Telemachiad and the Ulyssiad--see preceding commentary under
these titles.)

II. The second grand division of the Odyssey is the last twelve Books.
The scene is laid in Ithaca, where the great deed, to which the poem
hitherto has looked forward, is to be done. The wanderings of the
father have ceased, the son returns from his schooling; every movement
is now directed toward action. Again Pallas (XIII. 393-415) plans two
subdivisions, without the Council of the Gods however.

1. The hut of the swineherd. Here the forces hostile to the Suitors
gather in secret and lay their plan. Ulysses, Telemachus, Eumaeus, the
gallant army of three, get ready for the execution of the deed. Four
Books.

2. The palace of the King. Ulysses in disguise beholds the Suitors in
their negative acts; they are as bad as the Trojans, assailing
Property, Family, State, the Gods; they are really in their way
re-enacting the rape of Helen. Ulysses, as he destroyed Troy, must
destroy them, yet not become merely destructive himself. Eight Books,
in which we can discern the following movement: (1) Suitors as
destroyers--five Books; (2) Ulysses as destroyer--one Book; (3) Ulysses
as restorer--two Books. Thus the outcome is positive..

The career of Ulysses is now complete, and with it the Homeric Cycle
has rounded itself out to fullness. The Epic Cycle in the _Telegonia_
will expand this conclusion, but will deeply mar its idea.

Note that the structure of the two grand divisions of the Odyssey are
symmetrical, each a half of the poem; then each half subdivides into
two parts, and each of those parts is symmetrical, being composed of
four and eight Books each. To be sure, the joint is not so plain in the
second division as in the first, which has the Telemachiad and the
Ulyssiad. Pallas is the orderer of both divisions, and she orders them
in a symmetrical manner.

For both divisio