ect; each hero along with his town or land
had his Return, which became embodied in legend and song. All Hellas,
in a certain stage of its spiritual movement, had a tendency to break
out into the lay of the Return. One of the so-called cyclic poets,
Hagias of Troezen, collected a number of these lays into one poem and
called it the _Nostoi_ or Returns, evidently an outgrowth of this Third
Book in particular and of the Odyssey in general.

Thus Telemachus has witnessed and heard a good deal during his stay
with Nestor. He has seen a religious world, a realm of faith in the
Gods, which certainly has left its strong impression; he has been
inspired by the example of his father, whose worth has been set forth,
and whose place in the great Trojan movement has been indicated, by the
aged Hero. Still further, Telemachus has been brought to share in the
idea of the Return, the present underlying idea of the whole Greek
consciousness; thus he must be led to believe in it and to work for it,
applying it to his own case and his own land. Largely, from a negative,
despairing state of mind due to his Ithacan environment, he has been
led into glimpses of a positive believing one; this has sprung from his
schooling with Nestor, who may be called his first schoolmaster, from
whom he is now to pass to his second.

The reader must judge whether the preceding view be too introspective
for Homer, who is usually declared to be the unconscious poet, quite
unaware of his purpose or process. No one can carefully read the Third
Book without feeling its religious purport; an atmosphere it has
peculiar to itself in relation to the other Books of the Telemachiad.
To be sure, we can read it as an adventure, a mere diverting story,
without further meaning than the attempt to entertain vacant heads
seeking to kill time. But really it is the record of the spirit's
experience, and must so be interpreted. Again the question comes up:
what is it to know Homer? His geography, his incidents, his grammar,
his entire outer world have their right and must be studied--but let us
proceed to the next Book.

_BOOK FOURTH._

The transition from Book Third to Book Fourth involves a very
significant change of environment. In Sparta, to which Telemachus now
passes, there is occurring no public sacrifice to the Gods, but a
domestic festal occasion gives the tone; he moves out of a religious
into a secular atmosphere. Pylos allows the simple state of faith,